ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1621793
This article is part of the Research TopicCritical Racial Consciousness Among Diverse Youth: Global Perspectives and Educational PossibilitiesView all articles
Context Matters: How Relative Representation Shapes Black and Latiné Adolescents' Perceptions of School Ethnic Climate and Discrimination
Provisionally accepted
- 1California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, United States
- 2California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
- 3California State University, Dominguez Hills, Dominguez Hills, United States
- 4University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
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The current study used path analysis to examine Black and Latiné students' experiences with discrimination at school as a function of relative representation and perceptions of the school ethnic climate. Participants included 2,063 United States eighth graders (51% female; M= 13.33 years) who self-identified as Black (24%) or Latiné (76%). Results indicated that relative representation significantly predicted perceptions of the school ethnic climate such that, overrepresentation in class compared to the broader school context was associated with less favorable perceptions of the school ethnic climate, as measured by teacher support norms around diversity (b = -.42, p < .001). In turn, less positive perceptions of teacher support norms predicted greater perceived discrimination from both adults (b = -.78, p < .001) and peers (b = -.35, p < .001). These findings highlight the importance of considering relative representation and underscore the critical role of teachers in fostering classroom environments that support ethnic and racial diversity and reduce discriminatory experiences for Black and Latiné youth.
Keywords: school ethnic climate1, relative representation2, discrimination3, teachers4, classroom representation5. Relative Representation, climate, and Discrimination Relative Representation, and discrimination
Received: 01 May 2025; Accepted: 09 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Saafir, Morales-Chicas, Kogachi and Graham. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jessica Morales-Chicas, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
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