My Research

Below I share the two primary strands of my current research program. For more information on my ongoing projects, get in touch!

Examining variation in adolescent ERI and its implications for adjustment

Research has shown that as adolescents transition into emerging adulthood, significantly more report greater introspection and clarity about their ethnic-racial background and what it means to them. Despite this shift, there remains great variation among adolescents in their ERI. My research expands our understanding of this variation among adolescents of varying ethnic-racial backgrounds, both within and across ethnic-racial groups, and illustrates important implications of this variation for adolescents’ academic adjustment, psychological well-being, and intergroup contact attitudes.

Related Work

Wantchekon, K.A., McDermott, E.R., Jones, S. M., , Satterthwaite-Freiman, M., Rivas-Drake, D., Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2023). The role of ethnic-racial identity and self-esteem in contact attitudes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01819-1

Agi-Garratt, A., Wantchekon, K.A., Rivas-Drake, D., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., (2023). Assessing invariance of universal ethnic-racial identity constructs among Black adolescents in the United States. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01790-x

Satterthwaite-Freiman, M., Sladek, M. R., Wantchekon, K. A., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2022). Examining ethnic-racial identity negative affect, centrality, and White adolescents’ intergroup contact attitudes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01680-8

Wantchekon, K. A., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2021). Relating profiles of ethnic-racial identity process and content to the academic and psychological adjustment of Black and Latinx adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(7), 1333-1352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01451-x

Wantchekon, K.A., Umaña-Taylor, A.J., McDermott, E.R., Sladek, M.R., Rivas-Drake, D., Agi, A.C., & Freiman, M. S. (2021). Comparing relations of ethnic-racial public regard, centrality, and intergroup contact attitudes among diverse adolescents. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(4), 833-852. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220987599

Sladek, M. R., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Oh, G., Spang, M. B., Uribe Tirado, L. M., Tilano Vega, L. M., McDermott, E. R., & Wantchekon, K. A. (2020). Ethnic-racial discrimination experiences and ethnic-racial identity predict adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment: Evidence for a compensatory risk-resilience model. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 44(5), 433 440. https://10.1177/0165025420912013

Supporting young people's ERI development in schools

Although schools are a central developmental context in adolescence, very little of the extant ERI research examines the implications of youth engaging in ERI development in schools. My research demonstrates how school interactions, including school-based curriculum that centers adolescents’ ERI developmental processes, informs their ERI development. It also considers how student-level factors may introduce variability into how and why ERI curricula may be effective as well as the underlying processes that drive students’ positive engagement with such curricula.

Sladek, M. R., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Neville, H. A., Ison, A., Martinez-Fuentes, S., Mason, P., Soto-Shed, E., Wantchekon, K. A. (after fourth author listed alphabetically) (2024). Professional Development for Providing Time and Opportunities for Change in U.S. Teachers’ Ethnic-Racial Identity. Identity, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2024.2366892

Wantchekon, K. A., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2024). Targeting Ethnic-Racial Identity Development and Academic Engagement in Tandem through Curriculum. Journal of School Psychology, 103. 10.1016/j.jsp.2024.101292

Wantchekon, K. A. & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. ,Sladek, M. R., McDermott, E. R., & Updegraff, K. A. (2021). Adolescents’ ethnic-racial centrality moderates effect of school-based intervention on ethnic-racial identity exploration. Developmental Psychology, 57(3), 432-442. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001150

Sladek, M. R., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Wantchekon, K. A., McDermott, E. R., & Updegraff, K. A. (2020). Contextual moderators of a school-based ethnic-racial identity intervention: The roles of family ethnic socialization and ethnic-racial background. Prevention Science, 22(3), 378-385. https://10.1007/s11121-020-01166-8