Brief report: Contextual predictors of African American adolescents' ethnic-racial identity affirmation-belonging and resistance to peer pressure

The current study examined whether contextual factors (i.e., familial cultural socialization, percentage of same-ethnicity friends in high school, and neighborhood ethnic-racial composition) predicted ethnic-racial identity affirmation-belonging and, in turn, resistance to peer pressure to engage in problem behavior. Participants were 250 African American adolescents (M age = 15.57 years; SD = 1.22). Consistent with ecological theory, findings indicated that familial cultural socialization and percentage of same-ethnicity friends predicted greater ethnic-racial identity affirmation-belonging. Furthermore, consistent with notions from social identity theory, youth who reported higher ethnic-racial identity affirmation-belonging also reported greater resistance to peer pressure. Findings highlight the significance of the family and school context, as well as the importance of ethnic-racial identity affirmation-belonging, for African American youths' positive development.