Ethnicity and Gender in Late Childhood and Adolescense Essay

Abstract This paper focuses on an have that was conducted to examine the alive(predicate)ness of sex activity and ethinic deflect along with sex and pagan individuality in new-fangled pincerhood and early adolescence. Data was composed on children in 4th, 6th, and 8th manikins from various unproblematic and middle tutors. The heathen crowds that were represented were White/European Ameri eject, African American, an Latino. Daily diaries and individual interviews displayed that ethnic, sexuality, and grade level differences affected the awareness of bias ( developmental psychology, 2011).It was further turn up that children in this age range were more than than(prenominal) aware of sexuality bias than ethinic bias. Keywords gender identity, ethnic identity, bias During adolescent development a childs need to be place based ethnicity and/or gender becomes more prevalent and is further influenced by their peers. In addition, during this stage of development, complaisant identity can have a deeper touch on inter gathering attitudes. In the text, chapter 3 discusses gender schemas and how they evolve from being inflexible to flexible though the development of a human being (Wade & Tavris, 2011).In the Development Psychology article, Ethnicity and Gender in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence Group identity and Awareness of Bias, 2011, psychologists, Alabi, Brown, Huynh, and Masten examined the awareness of gender an identity bias and its impact on the individuals/groups. The hypothesis is the possibility that children can be aware of one(a) type of bias and oblivious to the another based on their group identity. The subject field was conducted with 350 students from three participating elementary schools and three middle schools in Southern California.The schools represented various ethnic/racial make-ups and socioeconomic statuses that include 67 African American, 120 White, and 167 Latino students. Two methodologies were used duri ng this study, aspect study and naturalistic poster. The outcome study methodology as expound by the text is the description of an individual based on their observation of behavior during a specified period (Wade & Tavris, 2011, p. 18). During the first week the case study was conducted by each participant receiving a diary to roll their assessment of what identity was most important to them.The approach was referred to as identity centrality and the children received an ethnicity and gender score based on the results. The second component of this test, identified as the identity salience approach involved students documenting whether or not they thought about gender, ethnic, or no identity at all during each period of the school day. The results of this test revealed that 51% of the children mentioned ethnicity and 63% mentioned gender.Following this portion of the study, the students were assessed through individual interviews with the same ethnicity, same gender experimente r. To assess ethnic identity, the students were presented five items with opposing questions, in which they had to choose the asseveration that they most identified with. A similar assessment was conducted to determine the peak of their gender identity. The final results of these assessments revealed that 51% of the students were aware of ethnic bias associated with ethnic identity while 49% were unaware.The relationship between bias and group identity was determined by eight ethnic and gender identity measures to include gender and ethinic identity, salience, centrality, positivity/importance of ethnicity, contentedness with gender, mat up gender typicality, and felt pressure to adjust to gender norms. Over 38% of the students felt positive about their ethnicity and felt content/typical with their gender. 26% part felt that their ethnicity was not important and felt no pressure to conform to gender norms. 20% of the students felt that their ethnicity was not important but was dissatisfy with the gender norms.Finally, 9% felt that their ethnicity was positive and important and were content with gender norms. In this study the awareness of gender and ethnic bias wide-ranging by age group. It comes as no surprise that children become more aware of gender bias than ethnic bias at a young age. As the text mentions, gender identity is discovered at preschool age in which the process of gender typing begins. This is where boys and girls begin to capture in touch with their masculine and feminine characteristics (Wade & Tavris, 2011, pg. 107).Ethinic identity creates a smack of emotional attachment to the group and the individual feels the need to conform to the determine set forth (Wade & Tavris, 2011, pg. 350). This study further showed that European American students were more aware of gender bias than ethnic bias. In middle school all students were equally aware of both biases but African American and Latinos were potential to be aware of ethnic bias in e lementary school. The potential cause of this stemmed from belonging to a negatively separate group which raised the introductory awareness.This showed that European American students were less likely to be targeted for ethnic bias ( Developmental Psychology, 2011). In early adolescence girls were more aware of gender bias than boys and could attest to being targets of discrimation. Conclusion The conduction of this study proved that children in late childhood and adolescence were more aware of gender bias than ethnic bias. In addition the results showed that children who were non European-American experienced and identified with ethnic bias at an earlier age. The limitations to this study was the demographics.This study was conducted in Los Angeles which has a very unique demographic because it is essentially a liquescent pot of ethnicities. The different socioeconomical factors and educational inequalities impacted the outcome of the results. Children in the poorest schools ha d more challenges to encounter in school than their peers in this study. These experiences molded their ethnic identities and the biases associated with it. During late childhood an adolescence development, group identity and intergroup relations became important factors.It is expected that this age group no matter the gender/ethnicity will witness or be a target of discrimination. Although legal segregation is a liaison of the past, gender and ethnic bias can greatly impact smart set but the attitudes and beliefs of individuals can be contained through intervention. With intervention at the earlier stages of development, children can fully witness equality. Future research methods inspired by this article should focus on the data collected from various locations throughout the country. Keeping this research generalized to one location compromises the true cogency of the study.New research methods will determine how different ethnicities identify with gender and ethnic bias. Other areas of concentration that should be included in this study are the workforce, judicial system and media/television. Successful results of these research methods can coat the way for some individuals to change their ideologies. These studies can impact the lives of everyday batch and potentially unveil solutions to discrimination. As we become a more multicultural country, we must realize the importance of cultural awareness so that we can better interact with different ethnicities/genders.Parents should encourage their to children to foster positive relationships with their peers disrespect cultural difference. These solutions will alleviate the stereotypes associated with gender and ethnic identity. References Brown, C. , Alabi, B. , Huynh, V. , & Masten, C.. (2011). Ethnicity and Gender in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence Group Identity and Awareness of Bias. Developmental Psychology, 47(2), 463. Retrieved May 21, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID 2321539051) Wad e, C. , & Tavris, C. (2011). Invitation to Psychology, fifth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ apprentice Hall.