Critical, active, and well adapted: Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' critical consciousness profiles

Abstract

AbstractThis preregistered study aimed to identify antecedents and consequences of adolescents' critical consciousness (CC) profiles with person‐centered approaches based on data from 663 ethnically diverse German adolescents collected from 2017 to 2019 (Mage = 12.91, 50% male, 50% female). Latent profile analyses of adolescents' critical reflection and interpersonal and structural critical action intentions yielded three profiles: “uncritical,” “armchair activists,” and “actionists.” Discrimination experiences, but not CC classroom climate, predicted a higher likelihood of being in the armchair activist or actionist profiles. The actionist profile showed better, but the armchair activist profile worse socioemotional and academic adaptation cross‐sectionally and over time (vs. the other profiles). The results highlight the potential of person‐centered approaches and of fostering developmentally appropriate forms of critical action among adolescents in novel contexts.