Responses to Acts of Discrimination among Adolescents / William D. Wakefield and Cynthia Hudley.

The personal effects of racial discrimination were studied through the responses of 50 adolescents enrolled in a precollege summer program to hypothetical scenarios. Half of the participants were female, 2 were European American, 8 Asian American, 21 African American, and 19 Latino. Expected response categories derived from the work of J. Feagin (1991) were: (1) withdrawal; (2) resigned acceptance; (3) verbal; and (4) physical. Thirty-five percent of these adolescents responded by withdrawal, and 39% gave verbal responses. Resigned acceptance was the response of 21%. Of the minority students, 98% found the hypothetical scenarios likely to happen to themselves or their friends, or they knew someone to whom the situation had occurred. Ninety-five percent of all respondents found the scenarios highly realistic. It may be that these adolescents found withdrawal or verbal responses most socially appropriate. In a threatening situation, a passive response may serve a self-protecting function. Physically aggressive responses may be perceived as inappropriate in many settings, and it is not surprising that physical counterattack responses were infrequently chosen. Two of the scenarios are attached. (Contains two graphs and three references.) (SLD)

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