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AbstractUsing 3 waves of longitudinal data from 444 Chinese American adolescents (Mage = 13.04 at Wave 1, 54% identified as women), the current study explored if there was variation in discrimination trajectories from early to late adolescence and whether contextual and individual factors predicted trajectories as well as if trajectories were associated with academic achievement and mental health. Three distinct discrimination trajectories were identified: low‐increasing, moderate‐stable, and high‐decreasing. The results also revealed that neighborhood Chinese concentration and adolescents' acculturation predicted discrimination trajectories. Different trajectories were also associated with depressive symptoms; adolescents in the high‐decreasing trajectory reported higher levels of depressive symptoms in late adolescence than in the other two trajectories. The findings highlight the heterogeneity in Chinese American adolescents' discrimination experience.

After-school programs are potential contexts that may promote positive youth development (PYD) and reduce problem behaviors among African American children. One way after-school programs may be associated with reduced problem behaviors is by fostering an affirming sense of identity. Prior research on racial–ethnic identity among African American children and adolescents has shown that a positive and affirming sense of identity is related to less maladaptive coping, yet little is known about how after-school programs may foster an affirming sense of identity and lead to reduced problem behaviors. The current study adds to this discourse by investigating how children's connection to staff and peers in after-school settings is associated with racial–ethnic identity (as measured by racial–ethnic affirmation) and reduced problem behaviors. Participants were 186 African American children ages 7–11 (M = 8.44; SD = 1.10) who completed surveys in the LEGACY Together Afterschool research project. Data were collected at 55 community-based after-school programs. Results indicated that positive racial–ethnic affirmation mediated the association between after-school connectedness and problem behaviors, such that child-report of connectedness—that is feeling safe and happy in the after-school programs—was directly related to positive racial–ethnic identity and indirectly to reduced problem behaviors. These findings underscore the importance of supportive after-school programs that encourage meaningful interactions among staff and children that are nurturing and affirming to children's identities.

This special section focuses on resistance and activism among youth of color, and is the last installment of a four‐part special series on "Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression during Adolescence." Using diverse methods, nine papers and two commentaries shed important light on youth of color's resistance to racism and other forms of oppression and identify factors that inform the development of sociopolitical actions. In this introduction to the special section, we synthesize four main contributions of this collection of work. Specifically, this special section offers an expanded conceptualization of youth resistance, advances sociopolitical development theory, provides new models and insights into anti‐racist identity and action, and examines schools as sites of oppression and resistance.

The issue's collection of 17 papers apply a wide range of developmental, contextual, intersectional, and critical perspectives (and their combinations) to promote understanding on how oppressive systems intersect and overlap in detrimental ways for BIPOC youth development. Innovative conceptual models and a variety of methodological techniques advance our understanding of the lived experiences of BIPOC youth who interact daily in contexts such as neighborhoods and educational settings in which racism and anti‐immigrant sentiment pervades. Together, the papers in this issue examine the systemic forces at the root of experiences of oppression and advance the field toward improving short and long‐term developmental outcomes for BIPOC adolescents.

This Black Lives Matter! Special Issue uses diverse methods to examine how multiple systems of oppression at different levels (individual, institutional, and structural) affect Black youth. Through an intersectionality lens, scholars examine how gender, sexual orientation, skin tone, and socioeconomic status create unique experiences for Black youth. Collectively, the 17 papers address the sweeping impact of racism and other systems of oppression on Black youth by examining structural factors (e.g., policing), interpersonal experiences (e.g., teacher–student), and developmental processes (e.g., socialization). Commentaries provide a historical view and future perspective to contextualize how far we have come and how much farther we need to go in our quest to combat racism and other systems of oppression and improve the lives of Black adolescents.

Despite being portrayed as model minorities, Chinese American adolescents still face challenges of discrimination. Using data from 444 Chinese American adolescents (Mage = 13.04, 54% female), this study examined the independent and joint influence of individual cultural characteristics (adolescents' acculturation and enculturation) and contextual factors (parental discrimination experiences, neighborhood disadvantage, and ethnic concentration) on Chinese American adolescents' perception of discrimination experiences. Results showed that acculturation was associated with fewer discrimination experiences; yet, higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage were related to more youth discrimination. Mothers' discrimination experiences were associated with adolescents' discrimination experiences when adolescents retained more of their Chinese culture. The findings of the study highlight the importance of considering the interplay between contextual and individual factors in influencing adolescents' development.

In reflecting on the collection of work in the recent Journal of Research on Adolescence special series and what it means for research to dismantle systems of racism and oppression, we call for adolescent development researchers to embrace anti‐racist research. We describe a set of strategies for conceptualizing, conducting, and disseminating research with adolescents using an anti‐racist lens. These strategies flow from tenets of anti‐racist research that include recognizing racism as systemic and being critically self‐reflective on power and privilege, committed to doing no harm to adolescents, action‐oriented, and community‐centered. Despite obstacles to anti‐racist research in academic and public ecosystems, anti‐racist research is essential if we are interested in equity in adolescent' development and the well‐being of all adolescents.

This study examined how discrimination experiences, beliefs, and coping in middle adolescence contributed to heterogeneity in African American parent–adolescent relationship (PAR) profiles three years later. Data were from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study in which 589 African American caregivers (92% female; Mage = 39.15, SD = 6.72; range = 27–74 years old) were interviewed when youth were in 8th and 11th grades. We used previously identified profiles of ethnic‐racial socialization, general parenting practices, and relationship quality: No‐nonsense High Socializers, Indulgent Average Socializers, Unengaged Silent Socializers, and Authoritative Cultural Socializers. Results indicated that parents' discrimination experiences, racial coping self‐efficacy, and racial coping socialization when youth were in the 8th grade predicted membership in PAR profiles three years later controlling for youth gender, parent marital status, and family socioeconomic status.

In this 14‐day study, we tested whether Latinx adolescents' (Mage = 12.76 years, 52% female; 52% U.S. born; N = 21) and parents' (95% female; 24% U.S. born) daily discrimination experiences were associated with their own and other's daily affective states. Results indicated that on days when adolescents reported discrimination, they reported higher negative affect and marginally lower positive affect and, interestingly, parents reported higher positive affect. On average (i.e., across the 2‐week period), adolescents' discrimination was associated with higher adolescent negative affect and lower parent positive affect. Together, findings suggest that Latinx adolescents' discrimination experiences are linked to their own affective states and their parents'. Results underscore how discrimination is linked to the affective states present in family contexts.

The current study aims to examine the associations between neighborhood safety, racial‐ethnic discrimination, and depressive symptoms, as well as explore social support as a protective factor using the Minority Stress Model for three different BIPOC groups (i.e. African American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican). African American and Latino youth living in urban environments often encounter multiple stressors at the same time, and it is critical to learn more about how these stressors influence well‐being in tandem. The results showed that among African American youth safety concerns were associated with depressive symptoms while discrimination was associated with Latino youth's depressive symptoms.

Over the last decade, two lines of inquiry have emerged from earlier investigations of adolescent neighborhood effects. First, researchers began incorporating space‐time geography to study adolescent development within activity spaces or routine activity locations and settings. Second, cultural‐developmental researchers implicated neighborhood settings in cultural development, to capture neighborhood effects on competencies and processes that are salient or normative for minoritized youth. We review the decade's studies on adolescent externalizing, internalizing, academic achievement, health, and cultural development within neighborhoods and activity spaces. We offer recommendations supporting decompartmentalization of cultural‐developmental and activity space scholarship to advance the science of adolescent development in context.