Becoming aware of white privilege: Longitudinal prediction of awareness of unequal treatment for Latinx individuals

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

In the United States, white adolescents -- compared to Black and Latinx youth -- are less likely to be questioned by police, arrested, or found guilty of crimes. However, white adolescents do not tend to be aware of the privilege they are provided as a result of their appearance. In fact, very little is known about whether white adolescents may perceive others as targets of discrimination. We examined over time whether white adolescents endorsed the belief that those who are Latinx are more likely to experience unequal treatment. We anticipated, first, that within White families we would observe links between parents and their adolescent children in perceptions of unequal treatment for Latinx persons. Next, we anticipated we would observe (a) stability over time within reporters regarding perceptions of discrimination against those who are Latinx, (b) links between ingroup discrimination experiences and perceptions of outgroup discrimination, and (c) unique contributions of mothers and fathers to adolescent perceptions and experiences. Participants were 199 adolescents whose parents both identified as white (European-American) and who were interviewed when they were in the 7th grade (M age = 12.90, SD = .49) and again three years later when they were in the 10th grade. To measure perceived unequal treatment we used five items that assessed adolescent, mother, and father perceptions of how Mexican and Mexican Americans are treated by others in public settings such as work, school, and different public agencies and workers (e.g., welfare, social security, police). Five items were summed such that higher scores indicated more unequal treatment. To measure perceived discrimination experiences we used three items that assessed adolescent, mother, and father personal experiences with discrimination. Specifically, our items assessed whether participants perceived they had been treated “rudely” and “unfairly” because of their ethnicity or whether they had witnessed a White person be treated unfairly. Items were summed and higher scores indicated more perceived discrimination experiences. Results. When we correlated mother, father, and adolescent reports at the two waves (see Table 1), we found no evidence for correlations between unequal treatment within families, nor did we observe stability for fathers over time for the white fathers. However, Wave 1 perceived outgroup discrimination correlated strongly and positively with the Wave 2 score for mothers and adolescents. For ingroup discrimination experiences, we observed stability over time for fathers, mothers, and adolescents. Finally, we used path analysis using Mplus and predicted both Wave 2 perceived outgroup discrimination and ingroup discrimination experiences from Wave 1 mother, father, and adolescent perceived outgroup discrimination and adolescent ingroup discrimination. We found stability for adolescents in reports of perceived outgroup discrimination and discrimination, but no significant links between mother or father perceived outgroup discrimination and either discrimination outcome variable. Discussion. We discuss our implications in light of how families transmit information about discrimination experiences for others, the gendered nature of those experiences, and how ingroup discrimination experiences sensitize white youth to discrimination.

Authors

• Jeff Cookston, San Francisco State University
  Presenting Author

• Katherine Vavuris
  Non-Presenting Author

• Izabel Pisikyan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shainamel Pilapil, San Francisco State University
  Non-Presenting Author