Raising Ethnic-Racial Consciousness: The Relationship Between Intergroup Dialogues and Adolescents' Ethnic-Racial Identity and Racism Awareness

Empirical evidence shows that intergroup dialogue programs promote changes in ethnic-racial identity and racism awareness among college students. Expanding on this research, this study examines the effects of intergroup dialogues on adolescents' racial consciousness. Self-reports of 147 adolescents (13-19 years old), of various racial and ethnic backgrounds were used. Repeated-measures ANOVAs, on pre-and post-tests examined changes in racial consciousness (ethnic-racial identity and racism awareness), controlling for parent education. Group differences (ethnic-racial groups, nativity) also were examined. As predicted, ethnic-racial identity and racism awareness increased after completing the program. Although there were statistically significant ethnic-racial group differences in ethnicracial identity, no group differences in racism awareness were found. The findings demonstrate that intergroup dialogues can promote adolescents' ethnic-racial consciousness.