The Interactive Relationship between Neighborhood and Parental and Ethnic-Racial Socialization Messages for Outcomes in African American and Latinx Youth

• In Event: Objective and Subjective Approaches to Examining Neighborhood Environments for Youth Development

Abstract

Introduction: Neighborhoods are an important context that affects various developmental outcomes and experiences for youth of color (Witherspoon et al., 2019). They serve as an intermix of micro and macro-level institutions that individually and collectively impact adolescents’ development (both indirectly and directly). Neighborhoods where ethnically and/or racially marginalized children develop can be promotive or inhibiting environments as they can be influenced by factors as neighborhood support, SES, racism, and/or discrimination (Garcia-Coll et al., 1996). Parents’ culture-related parental practices, such as ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), can serve a response to their awareness of these neighborhood factors. These messages have also been shown to affect adolescents’ self-concept and identity (Hughes et a., 2006; Umana-Taylor & Hill, 2020). This study aims to further understand the impact of neighborhood factors on African American and Latinx adolescents’ perceptions of parental ERS and their self-system (i.e. self-esteem & ERI). The study goal is to examine the moderating effect of neighborhood structural and social characteristics on adolescent’s perception of parental ERS and adolescent’s self-esteem and racial/ethnic identity.

Method: Participants were 98 African American youth (52% female, Mage=13.51, SD=1.89) and 81 Latinx youth (54% female, Mage=13.30, SD=1.97) who were recruited from a small, majority African American city in Northeastern U.S. Most families reported annual incomes of less than $30,000 (59.3%). Participants’ addresses were geocoded to obtain neighborhood diversity and disadvantage. Adolescents reported neighborhood cohesion, neighborhood problems, ERS (i.e., cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust), self-esteem, and racial-ethnic identity (i.e. centrality, private regard, public regard). Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to investigate study goals.

Results: Hierarchical regression analyses (Table 1) indicated that higher levels of cultural socialization were related to higher levels of private regard, public regard, and self-esteem (βs>.20, ps<.02). Conversely, greater preparation for bias messages were associated with lower levels of public regard and self-esteem (β=-.34, p<.001; β=-.19, p=.02, respectively) as well as higher levels of centrality (β=.26, p<.001). Neighborhood disadvantage was negatively associated with public regard and self-esteem at the trend level (β=-.16, p=.08; β=-.13, p=.09, respectively). Neighborhood problems was marginally associated with lower levels of public regard and self-esteem (β=-.13, p=.10; β=-.14, p=.09, respectively). Higher levels of diversity were related to higher levels of self-esteem (β=.16, p=.03) and diversity also moderated the association between cultural socialization messages and self-esteem (β=-.20, p=.03). Simple slope analyses (Figure 1) indicated that, compared to those who lived in more racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods, parental cultural socialization messages were more strongly associated with self-esteem among adolescents residing in less diverse neighborhoods.

Conclusion: These current results emphasize how the neighborhood and parenting interact to impact outcomes for youth of color. Moreover, this highlights which measures of neighborhood characteristics influence their self-system. Additional analyses will be performed to explore if the associations between ERS, neighborhood and adolescents’ self-system differ by race/ethnicity or gender.

Authors

• Shadane Johnson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Tiyobista M Maereg, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wei Wei, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dawn Paula Witherspoon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mayra Y Bamaca, University of California-Merced
  Non-Presenting Author