Black parents’ observed racial socialization behaviors and the influence of race-related stress

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Keadija C. Wiley (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Jennifer Coffman

Abstract: As Black families navigate a racialized society, Black parents often engage in racial socialization as a way to prepare their children for and to protect against the negative racial encounters that they will likely experience. Racial socialization is the process by which parents transmit messages of race and racial pride within the context of broader society, as well as racial discrimination and how to cope with those encounters (Coard & Sellars, 2005). Over the last decade, the racial socialization literature has provided much detail as to what goes on during this dyadic process, with many studies utilizing parent and self-report measures. However, little research has utilized observational methods of examining racial socialization and/or focused on how parents of younger children engage in racial socialization. Informed by Garcia Coll et al.’s (1996) integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children, which acknowledges how social and societal factors can influence family processes, along with observational dyadic data from the Parent-Child Race-Related Observational Measure (PC-ROM) (Coard & Wallace, 2001), this study examined the ways in which parents verbally communicate race-related content and suggest racial coping strategies when engaging in racial socialization with their children. This study also examined differences in parents’ racial communication as a result of parental race-related stress and gender of child. Findings revealed an emergence of pattern differences in parents’ racial communication as a function of race-related stress. That is, parents with high race-related stress had more proactive racial communication. Findings also revealed that there were no particular patterns that emerged that suggested differences in parents’ racial communication as a function of child’s gender. These findings provide insight into observed racial socialization processes among parents and their young children. They also fill a current gap in the racial socialization literature by providing future guidance on how to intervene and support Black parents in having challenging conversations.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2020
Keywords
Race-related communication, Race-related stress, Racial coping, Racial socialization
Subjects
Families, Black $z United States
Blacks $x Socialization $z United States
Blacks $x Race identity $z United States
Race relations $z United States

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