Out-of-school replication of the Identity Project: Randomized trial implementation and impacts on adolescent ethnic-racial identity development
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial
Abstract: Objectives Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is a beneficial developmental competency that progresses during adolescence. Interventions such as the Identity Project ( IP ) promote the development of ERI exploration and resolution. This study reports on the IP 's first out-of-school time replication. Methods This study is a registered, randomized clinical trial that enrolled ninth-grade students ( N = 189; M age = 14.76, SD = 0.38; 34.39% Black, 33.86% White, 15.87% Latinx/Hispanic, 2.65% Asian American, 13.23% Other; 58.73% girls/women, 39.68% boys/men, and 1.59% other gender) from one large public high school in the Midwestern US, between 2017–18 and 2019–20. It is the first out-of-school-time replication of the IP . Study implementation was adapted in response to participant and school feedback and the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Path analyses were carried out to test for direct effects of the IP on T2 exploration and T3 resolution and for indirect effects on T3 resolution, via T2 exploration. Results indicated that the IP led to post-intervention increases in ERI exploration and, in turn, greater ERI resolution one year later, compared to an attention control condition. Conclusions ERI development can be promoted in community-based, out-of-school time settings. Findings offer implementation-related insights that can inform youth development practitioners who may want to adapt the IP to their own local contexts.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,580
OpenAlex ID: W7170083891