Neighborhood Conditions in a New Destination Context and Latine Youth’s Ethnic–Racial Identity: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

This exploratory pilot study examined how Latine adolescents’ ethnic–racial identity (ERI)—specifically, centrality, private regard, and public regard—was shaped by parents’ gender role socialization (GRS) beliefs and perceptions of neighborhood connectedness and problems. Sixty Latine parent–adolescent dyads living in a Northeastern new destination context participated. Hierarchical regression models were used to test whether GRS beliefs moderated the effects of neighborhood on adolescents’ ERI. Traditional GRS beliefs moderated associations between neighborhood problems and ERI dimensions, such that adolescents whose parents endorsed stronger traditional GRS beliefs reported lower ERI centrality, private regard, and public regard in neighborhoods with more problems. These associations were not significant for neighborhood connectedness and did not differ by child gender. Findings suggest that parent beliefs about gender may shape identity development in environments perceived as risky or under-resourced. The context-dependent nature of socialization and the adaptive nature of parenting processes in emerging Latine communities are discussed.