Biology, Identity & Opportunity Study

On average, students from disadvantaged racial-ethnic minority groups (such as Blacks and
Hispanics) show lower academic performance and attainment on a variety of measures, including
grades, test scores and graduation rates. Racial-ethnic minority students are also exposed to
higher levels of stress, especially "race-based stress," including higher levels of
discrimination and stereotype threat. Past research has shown that race-based stress is
related to alterations in stress biology, including altered stress hormone levels and less
and lower quality sleep. Altered stress hormones and shorter and lower quality sleep in turn
have important implications for multiple aspects of cognitive functioning, including
executive functioning, that have known impacts on emotional well-being and academic
performance.

It is therefore hypothesized that disparities in race-based stress and stress biology may
help to account for racial-ethnic disparities in academic performance. One (correlational,
non-causal) purpose of this study, therefore, is to measure and test associations among
race-based social stress (RBSS, such as perceived racial discrimination), stress biology
(cortisol daily rhythms and sleep hours and quality) and academic outcomes in 300 high school
students in a racially diverse, mid-sized, suburban high school.

Additional research has shown that the presence of a strong ethnic-racial identity is
associated with better-regulated stress biology and higher academic attainment. A second
major purpose of this study, and the primary purpose of this RCT, is to test, through a
random-assignment intervention, whether promoting positive ethnic and racial identity
development serves to advance ethnic and racial identity development, improve stress biology,
and improve emotional well-being, cognition (executive functioning), and academic outcomes.
Positive effects on these outcomes are expected for those in the experimental (ethnic and
racial identity promotion) group, compared to the comparison group. Effects are expected to
be particularly strong for those in the experimental condition that are from black and
hispanic ethnic and racial minority groups.

The present study will assess race-based social stress (received racial discrimination and
stereotype threat susceptibility), ethnic and racial identity, cortisol, sleep, cognition
(executive functioning), emotional and academic adjustment, and academic outcomes in a cohort
of 300 high school freshman both before and after an 8-week randomized control trial of the
Identity Project Intervention (Umaña-Taylor & Douglass, 2017; Umaña-Taylor, Douglass,
Updegraff & Marsiglia, 2017). Participants will be recruited in 2 or (if necessary) 3 annual
waves, with baseline data collection for the study starting on December 16, 2017. Initial
tests of the RCT effects will occur immediately after the intervention and in the year
subsequent to the intervention. Questionnaire and administrative outcomes will continue to be
measured through the senior year of high school. Additional funding will be sought to measure
physical health outcomes, and to follow participants into their college and/or work years.
Study plans and hypotheses for these follow-on studies will be registered separately.

Inclusion Criteria:

-Three hundred students will be recruited through announcements and presentations in
required, non-tracked 9th grade classes at a mid-sized, diverse, suburban high school,
through flyers posted around the school, and through e-mails sent to parent groups.

Exclusion Criteria:

- The presence of an endocrine disorder or use of corticosteroid based medications.

- Youth who are unable to read in English will be excluded because materials will solely
be available in English.

- The study will not include students who do not provide parental consent.

- The study will not include students who do not provide their own assent

- The study will not include pregnant students in this study.