Skin Tone and Academic Readiness Among Young Mexican-Origin Children: Testing the Moderating Role of Ethnic-Racial Identity Attitudes and Centrality
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Skin tone-based social stratification is an enduring part of the U.S. racial landscape. Despite literature finding that skin tone informs educational outcomes among adults, few studies have examined these processes in early childhood. The current study tested whether skin tone predicted Mexican-origin 5-year-old children’s academic readiness (i.e., applied problems and letter-word identification) and whether relations were modified by ethnic-racial identity (i.e., positive attitudes and centrality). Findings indicated that darker skin tones predicted lower applied problems scores, an indicator of early math ability. Positive ethnic-racial attitudes did not moderate the relation between skin tone and academic readiness. However, contrary to our hypothesis, higher ethnic-racial centrality strengthened the association between darker skin tone and lower letter-word identification, an indicator of early reading skills. Findings suggest that there is early development of within-race skin tone-based disparities in education, and underscore the need for further exploration of children’s ethnic-racial identity in these processes.
Source: Journal of Latinos and Education
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, New York Community Trust, Arizona State University, Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation, Virginia Commonwealth University, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W4393187441