Modern society is multicultural and mono-ethnic, which is a unique and highly new phenomenon for people. In the past, humanity lived in separate, often isolated, monocultural, and monoethnic groups, perceiving people who were strangers exceptionally negatively. However, over time, the world has become globalized, and due to social, historical, and economic reasons, modern people live in multicultural and heterogeneous communities. It is precisely because of this topic of interaction between people of different ethnic groups and cultures that their influence on each other is still the object of active study (Nelson et al., 2018). This paper examines the interaction and features of the development of ethnic identity for white and black early adolescents.
A study by del Toro and Wang (2020) examined whether school cultural socialization of 961 African American teenagers predicted GPA through their ethnic and racial identity. The results showed that teens who perceived more school socialization had higher grades at 1 and 2 years. Moreover, the study discusses the implications of how educators can help teens of color succeed in school by reducing tension and miscommunication between white and black teens.
A number of studies support the idea that, despite the relatively generally accepted concept that parenting and identities are predominantly influenced by parents, this is not entirely true. The final meta-analytical model adjusted for sample size showed that parental ethnic socialization predicted ERI study and adherence, while only peer training for bias predicted ERI adherence. The results of this study highlight the importance of both parents and peers for cultural socialization processes during adulthood (Hughes et al., 2017). Thus, the study confirms the concept of the formation of ethnic identity through communication. Finally, it supposes that cultural socialization between white and black teenagers, with an adaptive approach, is beneficial for their personality.