Brandon D. Dull

Limited research has considered how school practices and narratives shape the construction of white identities. Using a critical qualitative approach, this article examines what white students (ages 12–14 years) learn about race and whiteness via the institutional narratives of a school with an anti-racist agenda. The analysis revealed that although the school's dominant racial narratives were race conscious in content (i.e., named racism and oppression), they largely did not work to disrupt the oppressive dynamics of white identity construction. In fact, we show how schools help produce particular kinds of white identities that serve the interests of white supremacy via the institutional narratives they endorse and socialize, even in educational settings committed to challenging racism. The article concludes by considering how efforts for racial justice in schooling are incomplete without deconstructing whiteness and white identity.

Parents' critical consciousness has been theorized to facilitate race conversations that center on how social structures, policies, and historical factors perpetuate inequities, but few studies have investigated this link empirically. The current analysis examines the associations between Black and white parents' critical consciousness and their anti-racist socialization amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. Participants were 725 parents (344 Black, 381 white, M_age = 38.08, SD = 7.00) of 8- to 11-year-old children who completed an online survey between October 2020 and January 2021, following the murder of George Floyd. Using latent profile analysis, the results show how Black and white parents' critical consciousness profiles are differentially related to whether and how they discussed Black Lives Matter with their children. Overall, both Black and white parents with higher levels of critical consciousness were more likely to engage in anti-racist socialization that countered dominant white supremacist and anti-Black ideologies, though fewer white parents did so than Black parents. The article discusses the implications of the findings for fostering critical racial socialization practices and offers a (re)conceptualization of racial socialization as a form of critical action for parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

In critical approaches to the study of whiteness, white ignorance refers to systematic and intentional ways of (not) knowing that function to perpetuate racism. The current critical qualitative analysis examines how white ignorance surfaces in the racial identity narratives of white adolescents (N = 69, M age = 15.91, SD = 0.49, data collected 2017–2019). Using semi-structured interview data, we identified three manifestations of accommodation to white ignorance: constructing white as disadvantaged, framing race(ism) as unimportant and elsewhere, and the active refusal to know or imagine racial oppression. Alongside this accommodation we also observed a less common but important thread of resistance to white ignorance: seeing (and naming) systemic racism. The findings reveal how white ignorance as a macrosystemic cultural practice becomes embedded in, and strengthened through, the micro-level racial identities of white adolescents. Implications for conceptualizing and contextualizing white racial identity in developmental science are discussed.

In the late 1970s, adolescents in East Harlem, New York, participated in a program called the Youth Action Program where they worked collectively to address systemic issues causing inequities in their communities (e.g., inequities in housing and education). In the current study, we integrate the sociopolitical development framework with life-course health development to explore how participation in the program shaped adolescents’ skills and capacities for social transformation in ways that were health-promotive and informative for life trajectories. Data included retrospective interviews and member-checking focus group data of 10 former Youth Action Program members (current M_age = 63; 45% female; 55% male) from predominantly Black and Latinx backgrounds. We used reflexive thematic analysis and adopted a case study approach to highlight how participants’ adolescent experiences of sociopolitical development and resistance against oppressive circumstances propelled healthy life-course development. Specifically, participants were able to establish healthy lives through four health-promotive sociopolitical developmental processes: questioning the system not the self; carving out alternative spaces and pathways; building agency in a dehumanizing society; and finding purpose through committing to social change. Our study suggests that contemporary youth organizing programs can incorporate sustaining practices including the careful vetting and training of adult staff, pursuing tangible opportunities to create change, and embedding youth voice and leadership into programmatic structures to encourage healthy development via sociopolitical development.

This study takes a person-centered approach to investigate White youths' racial contexts by utilizing a latent profile analysis among a sample of White adolescents (N = 323, ages 16–17; 52% female, 48% male; data collected 1996–1998). Racial contexts were composed of parent, peer, and school influences, which revealed three distinct profiles: a Race Conscious profile, a Race Silent profile, and a Low Race Engagement profile. These profiles predicted White adolescents' critical action during emerging adulthood, where adolescents in the Race Conscious profile were engaged in more critical action as compared to the other two profiles. These findings suggest that the racial contexts in which White adolescents develop have direct implications on their desire to work toward, and take action for, social change.

Critical consciousness (CC) may promote well‐being, particularly during the COVID‐19 pandemic. In a national survey of 707 college students conducted in April 2020, we first validated the Short Critical Consciousness Scale (ShoCCS) among youth groups not often specifically examined in CC measurement (i.e., Asian, immigrant‐origin, LGBQ+, and women youth). Next, we examined associations between ShoCCS subscales and validated measures of both anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder‐7) and hopefulness (The Individual‐Differences Measure in Hopefulness). The ShoCCS achieved measurement invariance across racial/ethnic groups and immigrant‐origin status, and partial invariance among LGBQ+ and women‐identifying youth. We found critical reflection and action associated with anxiety for the full sample, but no evidence of moderation by sociodemographic factors. ShoCCS subscales were differentially associated with hopefulness for Asian youth and LGBQ+ youth. This study contributes to the evolution of CC measurement and extends the field by identifying well‐being associations during the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Limited research has investigated factors that shape White youth’s civic action aimed at social change. Investigating the relation between Whiteness and civic action is an essential step toward identifying and cultivating environments that encourage White youth to use their racial privilege to combat inequality through civic engagement. To address this gap in the literature, across two distinct samples, this study investigates the role of White guilt in motivating civic action and the moderating role of civic beliefs. Participants included all young adults who self-identified as White from two online survey studies (Study 1, N = 219 college students, 71.9% Women, 28.1% Men, mean age = 19.6; Study 2, N = 185, 50% current college students, 54.6% Women, 45.4% Men, mean age = 23.9). In Study 1, White guilt related to more civic action. In the context of high social responsibility, White guilt related to more civic action; in the context of low social responsibility, White guilt corresponded with less civic action. In Study 2, White guilt also related to more civic action, and civic efficacy emerged as a potential moderator. Collectively, these results highlight the potential for White guilt to be turned into meaningful civic action, particularly when coupled with civic beliefs.