Personal Relevance of Racism and Recent Protests: Reactions of Children and Parents

• In Event: Real Talk: Supporting Children of Color Amidst Inequity and Racism through Family and Community Socialization

Abstract

The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the resulting nationwide wave of protests, have thrust issues of racism into dramatically greater prominence. This mixed-methods study explored children’s hopes, fears and perceptions of the world, in addition to parent-child conversations about race and racism, to understand the impact of these events on children. Data were collected in June 2020, from children ages 6-11 and their parents (N = 207) in 35 states across the U.S. Children responded to open-ended questions about hopes and fears with drawings, photos, text, and videos. Initial questions did not include prompts about racism or protests, to gauge how they spontaneously surfaced in children’s responses, followed by more targeted questions about recent protests. Open-ended responses were categorized and coded. Interrater reliability was established by five independent coders and Krippendorff's alpha coefficients for all variables were acceptable, ranging from .79 to .92. Parents answered questions about the frequency and content of conversations about race, racism, and protests. Data from a similar study (conducted one month earlier) were used as a baseline to compare children’s hopes and fears in the wake of recent events.
Across all ethnicities, data revealed significant increases in children’s spontaneous mentions of racism and protests after George Floyd’s death (p < .001), and 93% of children could tell us something about the protests when asked directly. However, the greatest number of spontaneous mentions of racism and protests came from children for whom they were most personally relevant: Black children and those living in neighborhoods near protests. Across the open-ended questions, more Black children than White children mentioned themes of racism, unfair treatment, race-related violence, or protests (p < .05). Racism or race-related violence were expressed as fears by more Black children than White (p < .01) or Asian (p < .001) children. When asked what they wish for themselves or the world, children were more likely to mention equality or ending racism if they lived in areas near protests (p < .05).
Consistent with the child data, 89% of parents (of all ethnicities) reported talking with their child about race or racism before the age of 9, most often prompted by personal incidents or joining diverse communities (e.g., entering school). However, more parents of Black children discussed unfair treatment (p < .05), police (p < .01), and historical civil rights advocates (p < .001). More parents of Black children also believed their children knew the protests were related to skin color or racism, and that someone had been killed (p < .05). Thus, the results demonstrate the heightened impact of recent race-related murders and protests, especially among those for whom they are most personally relevant. Still, it is noteworthy that, even among Black children, spontaneous mentions of racism-related fears came from only a sizable minority of the children (33%). As in another recent study, whose data suggested that COVID-related fears were mitigated by interaction with parents, it appears that parent-child conversations both increased awareness of racism and helped to alleviate fears.

Authors

• Courtney Wong Chin, Sesame Workshop
  Presenting Author

• Rosemarie Truglio, Sesame Workshop
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shalom M Fisch, MediaKidz
  Non-Presenting Author