Poster #64 - Parent-Adolescent Racial Attitudes During the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Persistent racial inequalities and oppression of Black communities, alongside an increasingly multiracial society, has made it paramount for families to be educated on race, ethnicity, and racial oppression (Zucker & Patterson, 2018). Parent racial attitudes are often assumed to influence children’s overall attitudes through the process of racial socialization. Yet the majority of research has relied on parental self-reports of their own socialization strategies (Perry et al., 2020; Sullivan et al., 2021), which may not be predictive of their children’s own attitudes (Quintana, Mckown & Hughes, 2008). Thus, the current study examined parent-adolescent racial attitudes in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. We examined whether 1) parent-adolescent attitudes towards racism and racial justice are similar, and 2) identified the specific socialization strategies (e.g., color-conscious versus color-blind) parents use, which may ultimately influence their adolescents’ overall attitudes. We hypothesized that their racial attitudes would be similar, and parents’ socialization strategies will spillover onto adolescents’ own attitudes. Method: A survey-based study was conducted on parents (Mage=47.55, SDage=6.28; 83.7% identified as female; 76.2% identified as White) and adolescents (Mage=16.16, SDage=1.22; 57.1% identified as female; 72.5% identified as White) between April and July 2020. After May 25, 2020, dyads (N= 42) were asked quantitative and qualitative questions about their racial attitudes. Quantitative questions asked whether police brutality and structural racism were an issue within the U.S. and whether they supported the BLM movement. Open-ended questions asked whether 1) they discussed recent events and 2) what they would say to their adolescent/parent about race? Results: About 76% of the adolescents reported that they have spoken to their parents about race-related events whereas 18% refused to speak with parents. Around 24% of parents reported that they didn’t speak to their children about race and 20% used different forms of media to educate their child versus engaging in conversation. Overall, parent socialization messaging when discussing events promoted more color-blind attitudes than their adolescents (14% vs. 9%), whereas adolescents (21.4%) promoted more color-conscious attitudes in comparison to their parents (16.7%). Regarding race education, parents promoted cultural socialization education (38%). Further, parents within our sample used both color-blind (33.3%) and color-conscious (35.7%) attitudes to educate their adolescent, whereas adolescents used more color-conscious (9.5%) versus color-blind (7.14%) messaging when educating their parents on race. Parent and adolescent attitudes regarding police brutality as an issue in the U.S. (r (41) =.34, p =.04) and their support for the BLM movement (r (41) =.34, p =.04) were correlated. Whereas there was no association between parents and adolescents’ attitudes towards systemic and institutional racism being an issue in the U.S., r(41) =.19, p =.28. Discussion: Adolescent participation in activism has increased in recent years (National Poll on Children’s Health, 2020). Our findings suggest differences in adolescent and parents’ racial attitudes, resulting in youth promotion of color-conscious attitudes during one of the most momentous national moments on race in U.S. history.

Authors

• Marielena Barbieri, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Marie- Theresa F Nelson

• Charles Pisaturo, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

• Evelyn Mercado, University of Massachusetts Amherst