Racial Discrimination and Adolescents’ Externalizing Problems During COVID-19: Parental Ethnic-Racial Socialization Practices as Moderators

• In Event: Ethnic/Racial Socialization, Activism, and Adjustment in Asian American Families Navigating COVID-19 and Racism Pandemics

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered intensified racial discrimination against Chinese Americans, which is associated with poorer adjustment in adolescents (Cheah et al., 2020). Parents’ ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) refers to the transmission of messages regarding race and ethnicity from parents to children (Hughes et al., 2006) and may modulate the effects of racial discrimination on children’s adjustment (Juang et al., 2017). However, how specific types of ERS may moderate the association between racial discrimination and adolescents’ adjustment during COVID-19 is unknown. This study assessed three dimensions of COVID-19-specific ERS practices: hiding Asian ethnicity-culture (i.e., teaching children to hide their Asian/Chinese American culture and connections with Asia/China), avoiding Asian community (i.e., teaching children to avoid other Asian people and stores), and preparation for COVID-19 xenophobia (i.e., preparing children for the bias they may face due to their race-ethnicity during the pandemic). Specifically, we examined: (a) the association between adolescents perceived racial discrimination and adolescents’ externalizing problems; and (b) the moderating role of COVID-19-related ERS practices in this association.

Chinese American adolescents (N=216, Mage=13.83 years, SD=2.53; 72% girls) reported on their perceived COVID-19-related racial discrimination (Nadal, 2011; Tynes et al., 2010) and parents’ COVID-19-specific ERS (Juang et al., 2016). Both adolescents and their parents reported on adolescents’ externalizing problems (Goodman, 1997), which were averaged to create the final score.

Controlling for adolescent age, gender, and SES, adolescent racial discrimination (b=0.077, p=.021) and parental hiding Asian ethnicity-culture (b=0.137, p < .001) were positively associated with adolescent externalizing problems. Moreover, the association between racial discrimination and externalizing problems was moderated by parental hiding Asian ethnicity-culture (b=-0.122, p=.013) and preparation for COVID-19 xenophobia (b=0.078, p =.046). Specifically, adolescents’ perceived racial discrimination predicted more externalizing problems only at lower (b=.0177, p<.001) and mean levels of hiding Asian ethnicity-culture (b=0.077, p=.021), and at mean (b=0.077, p=.021) and higher levels of preparation for COVID-19 xenophobia (b=0.159, p=.001).

Parental ERS messages regarding hiding Asian ethnicity-culture decreased the strength of the positive association between racial discrimination and Chinese American adolescents’ externalizing problems, perhaps by serving as an avoidant coping strategy that may temporarily protect these adolescents from externalizing their distress (Mosher & Prelow, 2007) during this heightened period of discrimination due to COVID-19. However, parents’ preparation of their adolescents for the xenophobia that they might experience during COVID-19 exacerbated the negative effect of racial discrimination on these adolescents’ externalizing problems. This ERS practice with no supportive coping strategies could intensify adolescents' frustration and externalizing distress (Atkin et al., 2018). Finally, no main effect or interaction effect was found for parents’ ERS of avoiding the Asian community, which may be less relevant for racial discrimination processes because parents may convey socialization messages to adolescents to avoid all social contact due to social distancing requirements. Our findings revealed the unique roles of Chinese American COVID-specific ERS practices in modulating the effects of racial discrimination on adolescents that should be interpreted within this unique period and context (Bornstein, 2017). The short-term versus long-term developmental implications of these findings will be discussed.

Authors

• Bumo Zhang, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Presenting Author

• Xiaoli Zong, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Non-Presenting Author

• Charissa S. L. Cheah, University of Maryland - Baltimore County
  Non-Presenting Author