Margarita Azmitia

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Verified

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of California, Santa Cruz

Research on the development of social identities in early and middle childhood has largely focused on gender; increasingly, however, theory and research have addressed the development of ethnic/racial, social class, sexual, and immigrant identities. Moreover, it is assumed that individuals’ thinking about and articulating of the intersectionality b...

Contrary to loneliness and isolation, alone time that is chosen and intrinsically motivated has been correlated with well-being. This study investigated whether self-determined solitude was a useful predictor of well-being in older adults, building upon research with younger populations. A sample of 689 older adults (Mage = 77.64) completed a surve...

Research on solitude in older adulthood is scarce, and findings are mixed on whether time alone at this age is risky or beneficial. A mixed-method study was conducted to examine patterns of motivations for solitude among senior living residents (N = 397, Mage = 83) and associations with well-being. Cluster analyses identified four motiva- tional pr...

This study investigated the role of media as a context for ethnic socialization in Mexican-heritage families. We studied whether and how Mexican-heritage parents used the Disney film Coco as a springboard to talk with their children about important cultural traditions, values, and practices. Participants included 23 parent-child dyads. Children wer...

This retrospective study assessed how first-generation college students (FGCS) configured their relational and academic/career identities. Forty-one FGCS completed a lifeline mapping their academic and relational high points, low points, and turning points in high school and college. They then explained these points in a semi-structured interview....

Schools often perceive Latinx youth as disengaged and even dangerous. However, they and their parents often have high educational aspirations and view college as the pathway to economic mobility. This mixed-methods cross-sectional study investigated the roles of sense of belonging at the university, ethnic-racial identity (ERI), perceptions of ERI...

I selectively review the last decade of theory and research on Latinx adolescents and emerging adults’ development. After briefly reviewing the changing demographics of US Latinx families, I address: (1) asset‐based theories of Latinx youth’s development; (2) the literature on the educational pathways of US Latinx youth; (3) how close relationships...

This article considers the way that intergenerational familial settings have functioned as counterspaces where deficit narratives are challenged and youth identities are affirmed. These counterspaces support minoritized young people in particular as they learn in socio-spatial and cultural historical contexts, especially during the pandemic. We set...

Presenting at scientific conferences is key to academic career progression. Scientists don’t just communicate results; they also develop relationships with collaborators and mentors, and identify job and funding opportunities. Giving a talk confers recognition and prestige, particularly for students and early-career researchers. Despite historical...

Emerging adults are heavy users of smartphones and social media, a behavioral trend that may disrupt the experience of solitude and decrease the corresponding benefits for mood regulation and identity development. This study used the experience sampling method to assess the associations between solitude, social media use, and psychological adjustme...

Underrepresentation of minority and women in a primary science conference

Implicit and explicit biases impede the participation of women in science, technology, engi- neering, and mathematic (STEM) fields. Across career stages, attending conferences and presenting research are ways to spread scientific results, find job opportunities, and gain awards. Here, we present an analysis by gender of the American Geophysical Uni...

Researchers from racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in US geoscience are the least likely to be offered opportunities to speak at the field’s biggest meeting. Researchers from racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in US geoscience are the least likely to be offered opportunities to speak at the field’s biggest meeting...

Introduction Motivation is an overlooked but crucial factor in determining whether solitude is psychologically beneficial or risky. This paper describes the development and validation of the Motivation for Solitude Scale ‐ Short‐Form (MSS‐SF), a measure grounded in Self‐Determination Theory that differentiates between intrinsic versus extrinsic mot...

Assesses the adjustment of ethnically diverse emerging adults in the first year after transitioning to college, clustering their perceptions of emotional supper from family, friends, and professors and their depressive symptoms.

First-generation (FG) college students often confront cultural mismatches between their interdependent backgrounds and university contexts that promote independent norms. Past work has documented this mismatch with various methodologies (e.g., self-report, lab experiments, longitudinal designs), but behavioral explorations have been minimal. Thus,...

First‐generation college students (FGCS) often have different cultural values, practices, and goals from those of students from college‐going families. As they navigate college, FGCS coordinate these values, practices, and goals with those of their families, noncollege‐going friends, and communities. We draw on longitudinal and cross‐sectional stud...

This study examined whether discrepancies in emerging adults' perceptions of their own and their parents' value of education were associated with their individuation from family, and whether this relationship was mediated by family emotional support. A total of 82 Asian- and Latino-heritage emerging adults completed a survey assessing their and the...

Theoretical writings on intersectionality have long emphasized the unique ways women of color experience race/ethnicity and gender, particularly compared to White women; however, little empirical evidence exists in support of this claim. This mixed-methods study adds to the empirical base by comparing and contrasting these experiences among women o...

Computer-mediated-communication (CMC) is a ubiquitous part of people's lives, yet little research has investigated attitudes about unplugging, also known as media refusal. In this large-scale lifespan study we surveyed 446 participants ages 14e79 about their feelings and attitudes toward unplugging from CMC for 24 h. We also probed their actual rec...

Our understanding of emerging adults is largely based on retrospective self-reports that can be limited by poor recall, current mood, and social desirability. To address these shortcomings, Larson and Csikszentmihalyi (1978) pioneered the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) with electronic pagers and paper-pencil surveys. The increasing ubiquity of sm...

Intersectionality is a key theoretical, empirical, and applied construct in the social sciences and the humanities. In this essay, we review the origins of the construct and the foundational theory and research that served to cement its importance in these fields. We then present a brief overview of how intersectionality guides current theory, rese...

Social class identity development remains poorly understood, especially given beliefs in meritocracy and the American Dream. The relative fluidity and invisibility of class make it a slippery problem for social identity theory (Tajfel, 198148. Tajfel , H. ( 1981 ). Human groups and social categories . Cambridge , England : Cambridge University Pre...

This mixed-method longitudinal study investigated the role of identity synthesis and emotional support from family, friends, and professors in emerging adults' mental health during the transition to college. A total of 167 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse emerging adults were surveyed and interviewed during the fall and the spring quarters...

This study examined class identity negotiation among upwardly mobile poor and working-class emerging adults. Twenty-one ethnically diverse emerging adults narrated class-related experiences during interviews about their transition to college. Narratives were coded for (1) the strategies emerging adults used to make sense of their class experiences...

Two experiments examined larger and smaller judgments of animal and object word pairs. In the pilot experiment, we used the standard tachistoscopic paradigm; in the second experiment, we employed a modified pencil-and-paper version. Congruity effects (i.e., comparative × relative magnitude interactions) were consistently larger with animal than wit...

A growing body of literature provides insight into the ingredients for academic success for underrepresented ethnic minority students at all points of the academic pipeline. Theory and research in developmental and social psychology, education, and sociology all point to the important role of identity for students’ academic success. The purpose of...

The previous chapter examined how adolescents' growing maturity, including their college-going identities, can be motivated by a sense of agency and connectedness in the service of their own dreams and those of their families. This chapter considers the second question: what factors lead youth along academic pathways towards or away from college an...

The purpose in this longitudinal study was to investigate further the link between ethnic identity processes and content through an examination of emerging adults' narratives of ethnicity-related experiences. Seventy ethnically diverse college students completed an ethnic identity exploration index and told an ethnicity-related narrative on 2 occas...

The goals of this study were to examine trajectories of change in ethnic identity during the college years and to explore group-level and individual-level variations. Participants were 175 diverse college students who completed indices of ethnic identity exploration and commitment, self-esteem, and domain-general identity resolution. Multilevel mod...

This longitudinal study linked concepts of familism and social capital to investigate emotional support and educational guidance from parents, siblings, friends, and teachers in predicting Latino early adolescents' math grades during their transition from elementary school to junior high. Thirty-one Latino youth were interviewed twice and their sch...

This study investigated age and ethnicity variations in the association between patterns of perceived emotional support from family, friends, and teachers and depression in early and late adolescents during their transition to junior high school and college. Eighty-seven early and 106 late adolescents participated. Cluster analyses revealed four pa...

Three useful strategies for research with ethnic minority youth on identity, relationships, and

This study used a narrative approach to understand how emerging adults experience ethnicity in their everyday lives and to link ethnic identity processes with the content of how ethnic identity is experienced. Participants were 191 ethnically diverse emerging adults who completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) and provided a written...

Identity is a central focus of research in the social sciences, national and international politics, and everyday discourse. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary set of social scientists who study personal and social identity. The chapters span childhood through emerging adulthood. This chapter introduces the three goals of the volume:...

This longitudinal study investigated ethnic identity development among Latinos dur-ing the first year of college in two contexts. The contexts differed in both the density of ethnic minorities and the density of the target group studied. Participants were 128 first-year Latino college students from two public universities in California. Change in e...

Two studies addressed age- and gender-related patterns in early adolescents’ and emerging adults’ conceptions of intimacy in friendships. Forty-one early adolescents and 96 emerging adults in Study 1 and 174 emerging adults in Study 2 described a time when they felt especially close to a friend. Narratives were coded for intimate behaviors and affe...

In the last few decades, culture has taken center stage in developmental psychology. Increased attention to culture has led to lively debates not only about the meanings and nuances of culture, but also about the meanings and nuances of ethnicity, gender, class, and other aspects of culture that play a role in development. Two of the issues under d...

Gender and self-esteem provide lenses through which early and late adolescents construct their narratives of ideal and actual friendships. These narratives provide a unique window into the dynamics of adolescents' friendships during school transitions.

'Context matters' has become one of the mantras of developmental psychology. Researchers and educational practitioners embracing a wide range of theoretical and applied perspectives have argued that we cannot understand development outside its context. Many have stated that they are studying development in context, and indeed, attempted to carry ou...

Universities have launched outreach programs to enhance their ethnic diversity, yet little developmental research examines students' pathways to college. This study compares capital models (highlighting family background) with challenge models (highlighting students' challenges and resources) in predicting pathways to college. The Bridging Multiple...

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between early adolescents’ generalized beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution and conflict experiences in their own best friendships. An additional goal was to assess whether early adolescents’ self-esteem moderated this association. Participants li...

Drawing on Sociocultural and Bridging Multiple Worlds models, this article reports 2 longitudinal studies of peers as resources and challenges for students' school performance and future planning. Study 1 examined European American and Latino students' perceptions of peers' emotional support, academic guidance, and companionship from elementary to...

The history of psychology has been plagued by dualisms. The problematics of mind vs. body, consciousness vs. unconsciousness, universal vs. domain specific, and social vs. individual – to name but a few – have been the source of considerable and, at times, acrimonious debates. The principal contributions of Nicolopoulou and Weintraub’s paper (this...

This two-part study applied an ecocultural perspective to socialization of daily and long-term goals in low-income Mexican-American and European-American families with children in third, fifth, and seventh grades. The first part of the study examined family members' participation and parents' socialization goals and guidance strategies for their ch...

This chapter describes the nature of Mexican American and European American parents' aspirations for their children's futures and the links between family resources and community resources.

This study investigated the significance of friendship for scientific reasoning. We had two main goals: First, assess whether collaborations between friends fostered greater development of scientific reasoning than collaborations between acquaintances, and second, identify which features of friends' collaborative dialogues mediated their greater pr...

This study explored older siblings' and peers' influence on young children's cognitive development. Although we anticipated many similarities in siblings' and peers' influence, our principal goal was to test the hypothesis that siblings are unique agents of cognitive development. Young children, their older siblings, and an older, familiar peer fir...

This article contributes to the debate over values in science. A critical co-constructivist framework is proposed for conceptualizing the role that debate over values plays in all science. Using the psychological literature on moral development, it is shown that although debate over values is an integral part of all scientific discourse, it plays a...

This article contributes to the debate over values in science. A critical co-constructivist framework is proposed for conceptualizing the role that debate over values plays in all science. Using the psychological literature on moral development, it is shown that although debate over values is an integral part of all scientific discourse, it plays a...

This chapter reviews research on the relationship between social interaction and cognitive development. It proposes a framework that allows to explain a wide range of findings and to hypothesize about the nature of changes in social influence across development. Although it argues that social interaction may facilitate cognitive development, it als...

The relation between age and rate of forgetting was investigated with a task that eliminated differences in level of initial learning. Three-, four-, and six-year-olds were shown 40 pictures, then were tested for their recognition of 20 pictures immediately, followed by a recognition test of all pictures 24 hours later. Rate of forgetting was nearl...

The relation between age and rate of forgetting was investigated with a task that eliminated differences in level of initial learning. Three-, four-, and six-year-olds were shown 40 pictures, then were tested for their recognition of 20 pictures immediately, followed by a recognition test of all pictures 24 hours later. Rate of forgetting was nearl...

Three studies explored young and old adults' use of knowledge to support memory performance. Subjects viewed slides of familiar scenes containing high expectancy and low expectancy items and received free recall (Experiments 1, 2, and 3), cued recall (Experiments 1 and 2), and recognition (Experiments 1 and 2) tests. In Experiment 1 encoding intent...

Reviews the book, The Journey of Adulthood by Helen L. Bee (see record 1986-98587-000 ). The proposals that development proceeds along individual and normative pathways, that there is continuity between early and late development, and that development reflects the interaction between biology and environment are common to contemporary texts on adult...

80 5-year-olds participated in 4 sessions in which they built a replica of a Lego model. During the first session, children's building competence was assessed. Based on their performance, children were classified as either expert or novice builders. Children then participated in 2 sessions in which they built alone or with a partner. There were 3 t...

Reviews the books, Life-Span Development (2nd ed.) by John W. Santrock (1986); and Developmental Psychology: A Life-Cycle Perspective by John W. Santrock and James C. Bartlett (1986); and Human Development (3rd ed.) by James W. Vander Zanden (1985). In the past two decades, developmental psychologists have come to recognize that development does no...

Preschool children, young adults, and old adults viewed a series of familiar scenes and were asked to remember 1 item from each. The incidental memory of both children and old adults was less accurate than that of young adults. The result for children contrasts with the typical result of selective memorization research. Memory for high-expectancy i...

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1981. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-45).