The interacting effects of psychological empowerment and ethnic identity on indicators of well-being among youth of color

Abstract

Decades of legislative actions and power imbalances have limited African American/Black and Hispanic/Latina(o) urban youth's perceptions of empowerment and ability to rely upon social and institutional resources. Youth who have access to supportive resources and are connected to their ethnic–racial group perceive themselves as empowered and score higher on indicators of well-being. Among a sample of African American/Black and Hispanic/Latina(o) urban youth (N = 383) and using multivariate analysis of variance, the current study examined the relationship between psychological empowerment (PE) and ethnic identity among conceptually relevant outcome variables: community participation, neighborhood sense of community (SOC), school importance, and perceived substance use risk. Results indicated that PE and ethnic identity profile groups differed significantly on measures of community participation, neighborhood SOC, school importance, and perceived risk of using substances. Results provide preliminary support for the empirical and theoretical relationship between PE and ethnic identity on related empowerment measures, as well as indicators of well-being. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.