The study of personality in psychology is important because it focuses on what makes people unique and different from each other with regard to their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Emerging adulthood is a special time during people's lives because it is characterized by life transitions - for example, people may enter into their first serious relationship, move away from home, and start their first "real job" (Arnett, 2014; Bleidorn & Denissen, 2021; de Moor et al., 2022; Hutteman et al., 2015). Many emerging adults also attend university, and this environment may bring about change in one's personality and well-being (Chung et al., 2014; Noftle & Robins, 2007; Klimstra et al., 2018).

 

However, the experiences of people from minoritized groups, including those who identify as racialized are not currently emphasized in scholarly research. This means we do not have enough of an understanding of people’s experiences with what social scientists refer to as social structures, such as encountering discrimination and feeling affirmed in different aspects of one's identity.

At the Chung Lab, our research suggests that it is important to attend to the experiences of racialized students, as their needs do not seem to be fully understood (e.g., Chung, Harris, Zhang, Adel, Lafci, Debrosse, & Hoggard, Journal of Personality, 2023; Hu, Zhang, Jacob, Sharma, Mohamed & Chung, in preparation). Considering 69% of UTM students self-identify as racialized (University of Toronto Mississauga, 2018), this makes UTM the perfect place to do this research!

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We want to capture the experiences of students on this campus, and provide more diverse representation of the emerging adult experience in the research literature. We are honoured to be conducting Giving Voice, and are excited about connecting with our participants, students at UTM, university stakeholders, and others who are interested in our research!