Application of the Enduring Legacy of the Integrative Model to Investigating White Adolescent Ethnic-Racial Identity Development

Intervening in White youths’ ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development during adolescence can support the development of positive anti-racist ideologies and behaviors that challenge privilege and oppression, increase awareness of and reduce implicit bias, and embrace positive intergroup contact attitudes; yet, little is known within developmental science regarding how White adolescents develop their ERI within the United States’ sociohistorical context. Thus, this paper reviews the current literature on White ERI development and applies the Integrative Model (García Coll et al., 1996) through its keen attention to how structures of power, privilege, and oppression have a direct impact on various environments and experiences for young people, to White youths’ ERI development. The social stratification of whiteness, ethnic-racial socialization in White families, school ethnic-racial socialization, and color-evasive and anti-racist adapting cultural systems are explored as mechanisms that impact White adolescents’ ERI development within a macrosystem characterized by white supremacy.