Psychosocial and academic outcomes of an ethnic-racial identity intervention in Sweden

Abstract

Despite indications of positive associations between ethnic-racial identity and youth adjustment in ethno-racially diverse European contexts, little is known about how to effectively support ethnic-racial identity development through intervention to elicit such desirable outcomes. This longitudinal preregistered study examined whether a school-based intervention, the Identity Project, impacted psychosocial and academic adjustment through the ethnic-racial identity processes of exploration and resolution among adolescents in Sweden. The study included 509 adolescents attending the 10th grade (Mage = 16.28, SD = 0.80; 52% migration background; 65% self-identified girls). Participants were randomized into an intervention or wait-list control group. Data were collected and assessed at baseline and three times postintervention. Path analyses indicated a positive indirect intervention effect on psychosocial and academic adjustment through resolution, but not through exploration. However, the intervention did not moderate the associations between resolution and youth adjustment, and the intervention effects did not differ based on migration background, suggesting that the links between resolution and youth adjustment may be a normative part of adolescence. In sum, despite small intervention effects, the current study highlights the potential benefits of supporting youth toward ethnic-racial identity resolution.