About

Naila A. Smith is an Assistant Professor at the UVA School of Education and Human Development. Her research examines the role of sociocultural resources, assets, and risks in the academic and socio-emotional development of marginalized groups from childhood to emerging adulthood (ages 18-25). She employs a strengths-based approach to explore how marginalized youth engage in meaning-making about their identity and how these identities influence other aspects of their development. Additionally, her work investigates how social relationships with parents, teachers, and peers contribute to positive development, focusing on the dynamic interplay of these relationships and their potential to promote or inhibit growth. Her third main research area involves studying risk factors such as discrimination and microaggressions and their impact on marginalized groups in the United States, particularly among immigrant and ethnically and racially minoritized populations like Black Americans and Latinx individuals. Her research spans multiple contexts, including home, school, and online environments. She employs quantitative methods, including advanced longitudinal techniques and person-centered analyses like latent profile analyses, to understand long-term developmental changes and the combined effects of various factors. She is also trained in qualitative methodology to gain nuanced insights into the experiences of marginalized youth.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Sociology

Selected publications

• African American fathers' coping patterns: Implications for father-son involvement and race-related discussions

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-10

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• U.S. Immigrants' Multicultural Identities: Implications of Immigration Policy, State Immigrant Concentration, and Public Perceptions

  Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · 2025-04-21

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT U.S. immigrant‐origin emerging adults must negotiate their cultural identities—ethnic (EI) and American national identities—as part of acculturation to ensure optimal adaptation in the receiving context. Contextual factors, like immigration policy, state immigrant concentration, and public perceptions of immigrants, may affect identity negotiation. Person‐centred approaches show that immigrants have varying approaches to negotiating their cultural identities, but contextual explanations of these patterns have yet to be explored. Using latent profile analyses, we explored profiles of multicultural identity among U.S. immigrant‐origin emerging adults ( N = 253; 35.4% first generation; 53.1% female; ages 18–29) and examined how multiple levels of the social context contributed to their multicultural identity styles. We identified four multicultural identity styles that varied in their approach to ethnic identity, American identity and cultural identity strategies: EI Oriented Bicultural (39.68%), Balanced Bicultural (29.15%), EI Oriented Separated (18.22%) and Low EI Diffused (12.95%). Next, we examined how contextual factors were associated with profile membership. We found that inclusivity of state immigration policy, living in a traditional immigrant destination state, and perceptions of the public's views of immigrants were associated with multicultural identity styles. These results have implications for fostering welcoming contexts of reception for immigrants in the United States.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• School Climate and Black Adolescents’ Psychological Functioning: The Roles of Parental Self-Efficacy and Parenting Practices

  Behavioral Sciences · 2025-07-10 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Based on ecological systems theory, adolescents' school climates can influence family interactions. In this study, it was tested whether associations between adolescents' and parents' perceptions of school climate in 7th grade (Wave 1) and adolescents' later psychological functioning in 11th grade (Wave 4) were partially mediated by parental self-efficacy and parenting practices when the adolescents were in 8th grade (Wave 3). Path analyses were conducted in MPlus v. 7.4. Among 660 Black American families from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study, adolescents' positive perceptions of school climate were directly related to fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms, higher resourcefulness, and higher self-esteem. Adolescents' perceptions of school climate were also indirectly related to their externalizing symptoms through parent-adolescent communication and conflict. Adolescents who reported more positive school climates reported higher parent-adolescent communication and lower parent-adolescent conflict. Adolescents' reports of school climate were also indirectly associated with self-esteem. Parents' perceptions of school climate were not directly related to adolescents' psychological functioning but were directly related to parental self-efficacy and parent-adolescent communication. They were also indirectly related to adolescents' externalizing symptoms through parental self-efficacy. Parental self-efficacy was positively related to parent-adolescent communication and parents' home-based school involvement. Overall, the findings highlight the role of school context in adolescents' psychological functioning and family processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Timing and perpetrator identity matter when coping with school-based adverse racialized experiences

  Contemporary Educational Psychology · 2025-08-18

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Stereotype Awareness and Black Fathers’ Paternal Engagement: At the Nexus of Racial and Fathering Identities

  UNC Libraries · 2025-05-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Social experiences and interactions can influence fathering role identities and motivate parenting behaviors. The current investigation seeks to better understand how awareness of societal and media stereotypes shape identity beliefs about Black fathers and paternal engagement, with an emphasis on multidimensional components of Black fathering identity (e.g., personally held beliefs about Black fathers; assessments of societal views about Black fathers). Also, we examine whether these associations vary by child gender, fathers’ residential, and partner status. A sample of 467 Black fathers (Mage = 38.39; SD = 9.86) with children between the ages of 8 and 17 years of age (M = 12.01; SD = 2.84) completed a survey via a Qualtrics Panel study. Approximately 58% of the sample was currently married. Forty-one percent of fathers reported non-residential status. Structural equation model analyses indicated that, while stereotype awareness about Black fathers was unrelated to paternal engagement, there was a significant indirect effect via Black fathers’ identity beliefs. Additionally, analyses provided some support that the examined associations varied by partner status and child gender. Findings suggest that Black fathers’ awareness of stereotypes may have direct and indirect implications for paternal engagement and that demographic context may shape the direction and strength of these associations.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Immigrant Racial Identity Scholarship in the United States: A Conceptual Examination

  Identity · 2024-09-23 · 2 citations

  article

  First- and second-generation Black immigrants are a growing population, comprising a significant portion of the Black people living in the United States, but are an under researched group. Racial identity is one framework that may be used to examine their identity-making in the context of racial oppression. This conceptual paper examines the research literature on Black immigrant racial identity to determine what we have learned about racial identity construction, whether there are associations between Black immigrants’ racial identity and psychosocial outcomes, and where we need to go next. To this end, this manuscript is organized into four major parts. First, we provide a brief overview of Black racial identity theories. In the second and third sections, we discuss the contributions of the current literature on Black immigrant racial identity, particularly to scholars’ understanding of racial identity construction and psychosocial outcomes, and we identify limitations in the current research, respectively. Last, we propose three directions for future research that can further explore and expand intersectional approaches to understanding Black immigrants’ racial identities.

  PublisherDOI

• Parenting in African American families: Profiles of general and culturally specific dimensions of <scp>parent–adolescent</scp> relationships during late adolescence

  Journal of Research on Adolescence · 2024-06-26 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Developmental and parenting frameworks suggest that factors at the individual‐level and multiple levels of adolescents' contexts are important determinants of how African American parents prepare their children to live in a racially stratified society. Using a person‐centered approach, this study explored heterogeneity in profiles of African American parent–adolescent relationships (PARs) using indicators of parent‐reported ethnic‐racial socialization (cultural socialization, preparation for bias), general parenting practices (autonomy support, monitoring, behavioral control), and relationship quality (warmth, communication, conflict). We also examined how adolescents' characteristics, parents' personal and psychological resources, and contextual sources of stress and support contributed to profile membership. Data were from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (1991–2000) and consisted of 589 African American caregiver–adolescent dyads (caregivers: 89% female; 57.2% married; adolescents: 50.7% female; M age = 17, SD = 0.64, range = 15–19 years old). Latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: (a) No‐Nonsense High Socializers , (b) Indulgent Average Socializers , (c) Unengaged Silent Socializers , and (d) Authoritative Cultural Socializers . Adolescent characteristics (gender, depression, and problem behavior), parents' personal and psychological resources (parenting self‐efficacy, centrality, private regard, and depression), and contextual sources of stress and support (stress: economic hardship, family stress, neighborhood disadvantage and support: marital status, family cohesion, family organization) were correlated with profile membership. Findings suggest that variability in African American PARs is shaped by an extensive set of individual and contextual factors related to adolescents and the family and neighborhood context. These findings have important implications for future research and how to target multiple potential levers for change in African American parenting practice.

  PublisherDOI

• Online and offline gendered racial microaggressions and sleep quality for Black women.

  Health Psychology · 2024-09-23 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: Poor sleep quality affects Black women in the United States. Black young adult women experience stress from gendered racial microaggressions (i.e., subtle unfair treatment from being a Black woman). Studies of exposure to this stressor have focused on in-person contexts (i.e., offline). Yet Black young adults are nearly constantly online. The current study examines the associations between online and offline gendered racial microaggressions and sleep quality. METHOD: = 478; ages 18-35) and were collected online in the fall of 2021. Participants completed an online survey in which they self-reported demographics and COVID-19 stress covariates, online and offline exposure to gendered racial microaggressions, and sleep quality. Utilizing linear (outcome: continuous sleep quality score) and logistic (outcome: dichotomized clinically significant poor sleep quality) regression models, we examined direct and vicarious online gendered racial microaggressions. RESULTS: Most participants (67.2%) reported poor sleep quality. More offline gendered racism (β = .14) and vicarious online gendered racism (β = .14) were each uniquely associated with poorer sleep quality. However, only exposure to vicarious online gendered racism was uniquely associated with a 33% increased odds of clinically relevant poor sleep quality (95% confidence interval [1.09, 1.63]). CONCLUSIONS: Offline and online gendered racial microaggressions are stressors with sleep quality implications. Vicarious online gendered racial microaggressions are uniquely associated with lower sleep quality and therefore may be a new avenue for future research and intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “Actually, I don't do different”: Black parents’ perceptions of gender socialization of sons versus daughters.

  Journal of Family Psychology · 2024-06-17 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  = 128) who were raising at least one son and one daughter; the majority of youth were adolescents (range 2-31 years). In separate home interviews, mothers and fathers described whether and how they socialized their sons versus daughters about education, their futures, and racism and discrimination. Across these three domains, most parents reported that they did not socialize their sons and daughters differently. Nonetheless, several themes emerged that illuminated race and race-gender intersectionality in parents' socialization, both resistance and accommodation to traditional gender norms, and the role of children's personal characteristics in parents' socialization, with similar themes evident among parents who did and who did not report socializing sons and daughters differently. This study advances understanding of parents' gender socialization and has implications for family-focused interventions aimed at promoting the well-being and achievement of Black American boys and girls. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Constructed online experiences facilitate ethnic-racial identity development among Black and Latinx adolescents

  Applied Developmental Science · 2024-01-31 · 8 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Using latent profile analysis and a longitudinal design, we explored how Black and Latinx adolescents' (N = 535; Mage = 14.47, SD = 1.99) construction of their race/ethnic and civic-related online experiences facilitated ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development over time. Profiles comprised five indicators: ethnic-racial identity exploration, making same-ethnic friends, same-ethnic group communication, other group orientation, and online civic engagement. We identified five profiles: Low Ingroup Connectors rarely made same-ethnic friends online. Moderate Connectors were average on all indicators. High Ingroup Connectors were high on seeking same-ethnic friends online. High Ingroup Engaged Connectors were highest on online ethnic-racial identity exploration, making same-ethnic friends, and civic engagement. Civically Engaged Connectors were high on online civic engagement and low on making same-ethnic friends online. Further, we found that High Ingroup Connectors had the most positive ERI outcomes one year later among Black and Latinx youth after controlling for earlier ERI and other covariates.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Vanessa V. Volpe

  North Carolina State University

  5 shared

• Olivenne D. Skinner

  Wayne State University

  4 shared

• Margary Martin

  University of Hawaii System

  4 shared

• Juan Del Toro

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  3 shared

• Fantasy T. Lozada

  Virginia Commonwealth University

  3 shared

• Shauna M. Cooper

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  3 shared

• Marketa Burnett

  University of Connecticut

  3 shared

• Carola Suárez‐Orozco

  3 shared

Education

• PhD/Applied Developmental Psychology, Psychology

  Fordham University

  2016

• MA/Developmental Psychology, Psychology

  Teachers College of Columbia University

  2009

Awards & honors

• Virginia Education Science Training (VEST) Fellowships
• Large Spencer Foundation Grant