CHILDRENS DEVELOPMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF ETHNICITY AND RACE

Research on children's development of ethnic cognition from preschool through adolescence was reviewed. This review was based on research co nducted on (a) children's ethnic cognition, (b) children's social-cogn itive development, (c) children's understanding of a variety of social status, and (d) Quintana's model of children's understanding of ethni city. Four developmental levels were described: Integration of affecti ve and perceptual understanding of ethnicity (level 0), literal unders tanding of ethnicity (level 1), social and nonliteral perspective of e thnicity (level 2), and ethnic-group consciousness and ethnic identity (level 3). For each developmental level, applied implications were di scussed.