Poster #180 - Parental Ethnic Racial Socialization and Psychosocial Outcomes among Black Adolescents of Different Ethnic Subcategories

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Ethnic-racial socialization is defined as the communication of parents’ worldviews regarding race and ethnicity to their children (Hughes et al.,2003). Research shows that Black/African American parents are the most prominent among those who engage in socialization practices to protect their youth from the negative psychosocial impact brought on from instances of racial discrimination (Lesane-Brown, 2006). However, while studies have examined the psychosocial impact of racial and ethnic discrimination and ethnic-racial socialization in diverse groups, there are some ethnic subgroups about which less is known (Neblett et al, 2012). For instance, several research studies have focused on the ethnic-racial socialization of Black youth, under the assumption that the Black race is homogeneous, blanketing the experience of ethnic subgroups. Therefore, this study assessed the differential effect of ethnic-racial socialization messages (i.e. preparation for bias, cultural socialization, and egalitarianism) on the psychosocial outcomes of Black adolescents from three ethnic subgroups: Black/African-American, Black/Other country of origin, and Black/Biracial. While studies have looked at a myriad of outcomes in regard to ethnic-racial socialization, this study seeks to understand outcomes that speak to how adaptive youth are to ethnic-racial socialization. Therefore, the psychosocial outcomes included were measures of depressive symptoms, loneliness, ethnic identity, and perceptions of teacher racial climate.
Participants were a sample of 824 Black adolescents who identified as either Black/African-American (n = 605), Black/other country of origin (n = 59), or Black/biracial (n = 160) from 26 urban middle schools across Northern and Southern California. Ethnic-Racial socialization was measured with seven items on a five-point Likert scale that allowed parents to respond to how often they exposed their children to preparation for bias (“Told your child that people might treat him/her unfairly because of their race or ethnicity”), cultural socialization (Done things to celebrate the history of your child’s racial or ethnic group”), and egalitarianism (“Told your child that race is no longer a problem in this society”). Depressive symptoms (7 items) and loneliness (5 items) were measured on a five-point Likert scale that allowed youth to respond to how often they “felt depressed” and “felt lonely at school”. Ethnic identity (6 items) and teacher racial climate (3 items) were also measured on a five-point Likert scale that assessed the degree to which youth “were proud that they were a member of their ethnic group” and the degree to which “teachers at school promoted interactions between different ethnic groups”. Gender, parent education, and perceived school diversity served as control variables.
Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that frequent messages of cultural socialization were associated with stronger ethnic identity for all Black youth. However, the analysis also revealed that Black/biracial adolescents who received frequent messages of cultural socialization reported less favorable perceptions of teacher racial climate compared to Black/African-American adolescents (Fig.1). These findings confirm previous research’s positive association between cultural socialization and ethnic identity, but also suggest that for Black/biracial youth, frequent cultural socialization may be negatively affecting how they view their teacher’s promotion of ethnic-racial inclusion in the school context.

Authors

• Carlisa B. Simon, University of California, Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Sandra Graham, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author