Critical, active, and well adapted: Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' critical consciousness profiles

Abstract

This preregistered study aimed to identify antecedents and consequences of adolescents' critical consciousness (CC) profiles with person-centered approaches based on data from 663 ethnically diverse German adolescents collected from 2017 to 2019 (Mage = 12.91, 50% male, 50% female). Latent profile analyses of adolescents' critical reflection and interpersonal and structural critical action intentions yielded three profiles: “uncritical,” “armchair activists,” and “actionists.” Discrimination experiences, but not CC classroom climate, predicted a higher likelihood of being in the armchair activist or actionist profiles. The actionist profile showed better, but the armchair activist profile worse socioemotional and academic adaptation cross-sectionally and over time (vs. the other profiles). The results highlight the potential of person-centered approaches and of fostering developmentally appropriate forms of critical action among adolescents in novel contexts.