Understanding Teachers' Ethnic-Racial Socialization Practices as a Tool to Combat Racial Stress for Youth

• In Event: Acknowledging and Addressing Culture, Race, and Bias Within Schools

Abstract

Purpose: Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), or the beliefs and behaviors about race, history, and preparing youth for racial discrimination (Hughes et al., 2006), has been positively linked to psychological and academic outcomes for youth of color (e.g., Umaña‐Taylor & Hill, 2020). ERS can be powerful in protecting against the psychological consequences of racial discrimination (Hughes et al., 2006). However, the majority of ERS studies focus on parental socialization and little attention is given to other socializing agents and contexts. Evidence suggests that schools can be an important context to foster optimal development and school ERS messages are associated with positive outcomes for youth (Aldana & Byrd, 2015). Teachers are one primary socialization agent who may convey school ERS. While research highlights the need to address aspects of race within the school context (Howard, 2010), little is known about teachers’ ERS practices and their comfort providing ERS in response to youth’s racial stress and trauma (RST). The current study addresses a gap in the literature by exploring how teachers’ report providing ERS and their comfort addressing students’ RST.

Theoretical Framework: According to the Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and
Socialization Theory (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019), ERS reduces racial stress and teaches
individuals how to anticipate, process, and respond when confronted with racially stressful
interactions. Research indicates that discussing race in family and school contexts is helpful in preparing youth to manage racial discrimination (Coll et al., 1996; Howard, 2010), and recent models highlight the importance of school ERS for youth’s outcomes (Saleem & Byrd, under review).

Method: Two teacher focus groups were conducted as a part of a larger study that examined adolescents’ perceptions of school ERS. Focus groups were conducted with teachers from two schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District (group 1 n=8, 63% female; group 2 n=7, 71% female). Teachers participated in a 90-minute interview on how teachers discuss racial discrimination, provide ERS, and address RST in schools. Teachers also completed a brief demographic questionnaire and measures of school and individual teacher ERS. Thematic analysis was used to identify salient themes, and inter-coder agreement was used to validate the findings.

Findings: Findings indicate that teachers provide racial pride socialization through conversations, curriculum, and images. They report some messages preparing youth for racial bias, but reported barriers with this form of socialization (e.g., race, comfort, time, course topic). Although less salient, teachers reported verbally conveying messages promoting mistrust of other groups and colorblind messages. Teachers appeared to be making sense of these experiences for the first time, indicating a need for more time, space, and support in processing and reflecting on these topics in schools.

Significance: This study addresses the dearth of literature on understanding ERS in schools, with a focus on teachers’ perceived ERS and comfort addressing students’ experiences with RST. The findings will be applied within a new conceptual model of school ERS (Saleem & Byrd, under review). Implications for how school ERS can contribute to reinforcing or reducing inequities in the school context will be discussed.

Authors

• Farzana Saleem, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lionel Howard, The George Washington University

• Cameron Schmidt Temple, University of California - Berkeley

• Jacelyn Osarugue Omusi

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles

• Audra Langley