Exploring the role of natural mentor support in ethnic–racial identity development.

OBJECTIVES: Although ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development is a process that occurs throughout childhood and adolescence in the U.S. context, the college setting may lead students to initiate or continue identity exploration and formation through emerging adulthood. This may be particularly true for students of color attending a predominantly White institution, who may face unique challenges related to their underrepresentation on campus. Natural mentors (i.e., supportive nonparental adults from students' preexisting social networks) may help facilitate students' identity exploration and development of ethnic-racial pride. The present study investigated the role of cumulative support from natural mentors in students' subsequent ERI exploration and ethnic-racial pride. METHOD: = 257; 69% female) in our sample were first-year college students who identified as a member of an underrepresented ethnic-racial group. Data were collected annually via surveys across their first 3 years of college. We conducted path analyses to test whether cumulative support from up to five natural mentors during students' first year of college may have been associated with ERI exploration in students' second year and ethnic-racial pride in their third year. We also considered whether the proportion of ethnic globally-racially matched mentors students possessed may have moderated these associations. RESULTS: We found that cumulative natural mentor support was positively associated with ethnic-racial pride (i.e., private regard) via students' ERI exploration, but we also found an unexpected negative direct association between support and pride. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the specific ways in which natural mentors provide support to students of color may determine whether the support nurtures or undermines the formation of positive ERI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).