Critical Consciousness and Emotional Responses to Racism: A Latent Profile Analysis and Associations With Socioemotional Wellbeing Among White Dutch Youth

To advance our knowledge on White youth’s anti-racism, this preregistered study applies a person-centered approach to identify White Dutch emerging adults’ profiles of critical consciousness (critical reflection, motivation and action) and emotional responses to racism (White empathy, guilt, and fear). Additionally, relations between profile membership and subjective wellbeing were examined. Based on data from 338 White Dutch emerging adults (17–21 years old, M = 19.44, SD = 1.28, 73% female, 20% male, 4% non-binary), three latent profiles were identified: “uncritical and insensitive”, “average”, and “anti-racist”. Youth in the “anti-racist” profile tended to feel less positive about the future than those in the “average” profile, but no differences between profiles were found for life satisfaction and future negative emotions. These results highlight the distinct ways in which critical consciousness dimensions co-occur with different emotional responses to racism, and call for further research into the interrelatedness of critical consciousness and emotional processes.