Parents/caregivers and their teens discuss a series of questions to help them recognize how valuing diversity can help their teens have positive interactions with people who seem different from them and be prepared to recognize and act against injustice.
Youth will:
Take a moment to think about the first moment you learned about the word “diversity.”
Overview: One strategy that can help teens be open to bridging differences with people who seem different is nurturing an underlying belief that it’s worthwhile to notice and appreciate cultural and social diversity. Talking to teens about times when different perspectives and lived experiences have helped solve both small and large problems can be a way to build up their awareness of why diversity is valuable.
Activity: While you’re driving, doing dishes, or taking a walk together with your teen, you can begin a conversation about the value of recognizing and celebrating differences by sharing examples of diversity in movies (e.g., We Grown Now), music (e.g., Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD)), or podcasts (e.g., Tell Them I Am). You can also talk about the challenges that arise from a lack of diversity (e.g., race and gender, and religion in movies). Alternatively, while you’re watching a movie or listening to music with your teen, you can ask questions to provoke curiosity around whose voices are amplified and what types of stereotypes show up. You can take inspiration from and adapt the following prompts using a familiar conversational style that feels natural for you.
Share with your teen how you’ve been thinking about recognizing and valuing diversity in everyday places like your workplace or your neighborhood. You can also share the story of your own personal experience with diversity.
Invite your teen to share about their own experiences being with people of different cultural or social backgrounds in school, for example. You can adapt the language in the following questions using a conversational style that’s familiar for you and your teen.
Beyond their school, invite your teen to share what diverse cultural and social identities they notice in other settings within their communities such as their city councils, parks and recreation programs, and volunteer settings.
Researchers compared two different approaches to diversity with 60 fourth and fifth graders at a public school in the United States (51 White, 9 Asian). One approach cultivated a value diversity mindset (e.g., “That means we need to recognize how we are different from our neighbors and appreciate those differences,” “We want to show everyone that race is important because our racial differences make each of us special”). The other approach minimized an awareness of distinct identities (e.g., “That means that we need to focus on how we are similar to our neighbors rather than how we are different,” “We want to show everyone that race is not important and that we’re all the same”).
The results? Students in the value diversity mindset group were better able to recognize both clear instances as well as ambiguous instances of discrimination as compared to students in the group that minimized distinct identities. What’s more, students in the group that minimized distinct identities less often described overt instances of discrimination events in a way that would lead a teacher to intervene. The researchers explain that these findings suggest that an approach to diversity that does not nurture its value can contribute to underreporting of injustices and permit clear instances of bias based on cultural and social identity to persist.
Researchers have identified valuing diversity as one of seven primary indicators of teen well-being. Valuing diversity is a marker of adolescent thriving because teens who care about and feel a sense of responsibility to people beyond themselves can contribute to efforts that are useful to all of society. What’s more, teens who value diversity tend to place a high value on equality and justice, like acting to reduce hunger and poverty.
Interacting in a group with people of different cultural and social identities can bring up challenges around communication and belonging. But research also finds that groups that value both the differences in cultural and social identities within the group as well as share a broader team identity are more creative. What’s more, diverse groups tend to engage in greater responsible decision-making.
Apfelbaum, E. P., Pauker, K., Sommers, S. R., & Ambady, N. (2010). In blind pursuit of racial equality? Psychological Science, 21(11), 1587–1592. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610384741
Salazar, M. R., Feitosa, J., & Salas, E. (2017). Diversity and team creativity: Exploring underlying mechanisms. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 21(4), 187–206. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000073
Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D. A. (2000). Contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 4(1), 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532480XADS0401_3
Sommers, S. R. (2006). On racial diversity and group decision making: Identifying multiple effects of racial composition on jury deliberations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(4), 597–612. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.4.597
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