Investigating the Influence of Dyadic Conversations About Racial Incidents on White American Parents' and Children's Implicit Attitudes

• In Event: The Role of Social Relationships in Shaping Children’s Socio-Moral Reasoning

Abstract

Up to 70% of White parents avoid talking about race and racism with their children, perhaps, in part, due to their fear that increasing children’s awareness of race could lead to increased racial bias—an outcome many parents would consider to be morally reprehensible. Conversations about race are recommended to reduce racial bias, but little research has examined this race socialization process in White families. We hypothesized that, when White parents discussed (blatant and subtle) racial incidents with their children, their child would show reduced anti-Black attitudes, and we explored the relation between parents’ nonverbal and physiological responses and their child’s attitudes. Eighty-three White parents (91.5% mothers) and their children (53% girls; Mage = 8.95 years, SD = 1.16) independently completed the standard Black-White Implicit Association Test (IAT) before and after a semi-structured discussion task. Dyads watched and discussed seven, 2-minute animated story prompts that depicted either subtle or blatant racism between a Black and White child. Parents’ nonverbal behaviors were coded for signs of physical tenseness and anxiety. Parents’ physiological responses were recorded continuously via electrocardiography. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was used to measure parasympathetic nervous system activation, a biomarker of emotion regulation, and reactivity scores were calculated (i.e., task minus baseline) for each story. Nonverbal behavior and RSA reactivity were not correlated.

Children’s and parents’ anti-Black attitudes (via the IAT) were significantly correlated after the discussion task, r(83) = .30, p = .005, but not before, p = .861. Children’s anti-Black attitudes significantly decreased from before to after the discussion task, t(79) = 5.34, p < .001, d = .60, as did parents’, t(82) = 2.70, p = .008, d = .35.

Parental nonverbal tenseness during blatantly racist stories predicted changes in children’s anti-Black attitudes, F(1, 72.8) = 6.28, p= .015, such that children’s anti-Black attitudes decreased with low parental tenseness but not high parental tenseness. Parental tenseness during subtly racist stories predicted changes in children’s anti-Black attitudes, F(1, 71.7) = 9.68, p = .003, such that children’s anti-Black attitudes decreased with high parental tenseness but not with low (Table 1; Figure 1).

Parents’ RSA reactivity during blatantly racist stories predicted children’s anti-Black attitudes, F(1,72.4) = 4.44, p = .039, such that children’s anti-Black attitudes decreased with greater positive parental RSA reactivity, but not greater negative parental RSA reactivity. Parents’ RSA reactivity during subtly racist stories predicted children’s anti-Black attitudes, F(1, 72.2) = 3.05, p = .085, such that children’s anti-Black attitudes decreased with greater negative parental RSA reactivity not but greater positive parental RSA reactivity (Table 1; Figure 1).

Our results indicate that a brief episode of discussion about racism decreased White parents’ and children’s implicit anti-Black attitudes with children’s attitudes shifting to more closely align with parents’ attitudes. We observed two distinct pathways by which parental attributes influenced children’s attitude change. Together, these findings suggest that parents who remain calm and relaxed during discussion of blatant racism and more focused and tense during discussion of subtle racism can reduce a specific type of immorality (anti-Black attitudes).

Authors

• Sylvia Perry, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Allison Skinner, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jamie L Abaied, University of Vermont
  Non-Presenting Author

• Adilene Osnaya, Purdue University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara F Waters, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author