Article Citation:
Brendesha M. Tynes,
Juan Del Toro, and
Fantasy T. Lozada (
2015) An Unwelcomed Digital Visitor in the Classroom: The Longitudinal Impact of Online Racial Discrimination on Academic Motivation. School Psychology Review: December 2015, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 407-424.
Special Topic: Bullying Research From a Social-Ecological Perspective
An Unwelcomed Digital Visitor in the Classroom: The Longitudinal Impact of Online Racial Discrimination on Academic Motivation
Brendesha M. Tynes
University of Southern California
Juan Del Toro
New York University
Fantasy T. Lozada
University of Michigan
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brendesha M. Tynes,
Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, 3470 Trousdale Pkwy, WPH 600D, Los Angeles, CA 90089
; e-mail:
Brendesha M. Tynes, PhD, is an associate professor of education and psychology at the University of Southern California and the Director of the Digital Learning and Development Lab. Her research focuses on adolescent learning and development via the Internet and the design of digital tools to empower underrepresented youth. She is the recipient of the 2015 American Educational Research Association Early Career Award and the Spencer Foundation Midcareer Award.
Juan Del Toro is a doctoral student in developmental psychology at New York University. His research explores associated antecedents and consequences of youth's ethnic–racial identity and their experiences with ethnic–racial discrimination concurrently and over time.
Fantasy T. Lozada, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context in the Psychology Department at the University of Michigan. Her work explores predictors of social and emotional development among ethnic minority children, such as familial emotion and racial socialization, school experiences, and social interactions in online spaces.
Guest Editor: Melissa Stormont
Online racial discrimination experiences often reflect attacks on the humanity and intelligence of members of specific racial groups (e.g., African Americans and Latinos). Such experiences may have detrimental effects on academic outcomes over time. Changes in reports of online racial discrimination and academic motivation were examined among a sample of 418 African American (n = 257) and Latino (n = 161) youth in Grades 6–12. Latent growth models with parallel processes revealed that adolescents reported increases in online racial discrimination over time yet relative stability in academic motivation. Elevated rates of online racial discrimination were related to decreases in adolescents' academic motivation. This was the case even after adjusting for teacher discrimination and baseline grade point average. In addition, high initial levels of academic motivation were related to increases in adolescents' reports of online racial discrimination. Findings highlight the importance of understanding racial discrimination in online contexts when examining how race-related experiences affect the academic adjustment of adolescents of color.
Received: August 1, 2015; Accepted: October 27, 2015;
Copyright 2015 by the National Association of School Psychologists
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