Talking About Race With Preschoolers: Patterns and Correlates in Black and White Mothers

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Recent research shows that White parents are often not engaging in discussions about race with their young children (e.g., Pahlke, Bigler, & Skinner, 2012; Perry, Skinner, & Abaied, 2019; Zucker & Patterson, 2018). The reasons for the lack of communication can range from complete avoidance of the topic to color-blind presentations that ignore discrimination and prejudice (e.g., Vittup & Holden, 2011). In contrast, racial socialization for Black parents often differs and includes "proactive and protective racial socialization messages," emphasizing both strong positive identities along with the realities of coping with racism (Barr & Neville, 2014, p. 139).

In this study, we present data comparing the socialization approaches of Black and White mothers of preschoolers, and their relations to child friendships. Specifically, we use a subset of data from a longitudinal study that collected data from parents when their children were 72 months old (collected between 1994-1995). The sample of 106 parents or guardians included more mothers than fathers, which often occurs in family research. For this reason, we limited our analysis to mothers, which included 35 Black and 45 White mothers. The gender by race distributions were as follows: 12 Black boys, 23 Black girls, 18 White boys, and 27 White girls.

In the study, the mothers were asked to complete a survey that asked them how many friends their child plays with on a regular basis, and how many of them are of the same race. Next, they were asked to respond to three general questions about racial socialization: 1) level of importance, 2) child's age for discussions of race, and 3) whether a conversation on race had occurred. Parents were then presented with 17 possible reasons for not discussing race with their child and asked how likely it would be that each reason would deter them. These were followed by 17 reasons for discussing race with their child and asked to rate them on the basis of how likely the reason would be for discussing race (Tables 1 & 2). Reliability analyses on each set of 17 items (against or for discussing race) showed high levels of reliability with Cronbach’s alphas values of .90 for both; thus, the two sets of items were averaged to form scales.

Results from a MANOVA (Table 1) showed that there was a significant difference between the Black and White mothers on the racial socialization measures, in particular with Black mothers expressing higher levels of agreement with the reasons for talking about race (d = 1.08). Further, the correlations (Table 2) suggest more coherence in the beliefs and self-reported actions among Black than White mothers. These results support previous research showing that White parents need to engage more in discussions of racism and prejudice with their children.

Authors

• Margaret L Signorella, Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine
  Presenting Author

• Joshua Marquit, Penn State Brandywine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jasper Flint, Point Park University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Gillin, Widener University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara Olszewsky, Penn State Brandywine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erin Pahlke, Whitman College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tahirah Walker, Bethany College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Phyllis A. Katz
  Non-Presenting Author