Psychology

A fraught passage: The identity challenges of African American emerging adults

Document Type

Editorial

Abstract

In this essay, our aim is to present some ideas about African American emerging adults, with a focus on identity issues. Our thesis is that identity issues are more complicated and difficult for African American emerging adults than for emerging adults in other American ethnic groups because they must overcome the negative assumptions that others have about them as young Black people. We sketch this idea briefly here, as a step toward a broader theory. In this theory, African Americans’ awareness that non-Black society expects them to fail becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Publication Title

Human Development

Publication Date

2008

Volume

51

Issue

5-6

First Page

291

Last Page

293

ISSN

0018-716X

DOI

10.1159/000170891

Keywords

African Americans, emerging adults, identity issues, ethnic groups

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