Correlates in Children's Experiences of Parents' Racial Socialization Behaviors

2001/11/01 by Diane Hughes, Deborah J. Johnson, Deborah Johnson · 466 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Critical Race Theory in Education #Developmental psychology #Ethnic group #Migration, Health and Trauma #Perception #Political science #Pride #Promotion (chess) #Psychology #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Social psychology #Socialization #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00981.x

published in Journal of Marriage and the Family 63(4), 981-995 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2001/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

This study examined racial socialization processes among 94 African American parents of third‐, fourth‐, and fifth‐grade children as they were predicted by children's ethnic identity exploration and unfair treatment as well as by parents' ethnic identity and discrimination experiences. Findings indicated that children's ethnic identity exploration and parents' perceptions that their children had been treated unfairly by an adult because of their race were both significantly associated with the frequency of messages to children regarding discrimination (Preparation for Bias). Parents' perceptions of children's unfair treatment from an adult and children's perceptions that they had been treated unfairly by peers were significantly associated with parents' cautions and warnings to children about intergroup relations (Promotion of Mistrust). Moreover, the influence of parents' perceptions on Promotion of Mistrust were especially pronounced when children also reported unfair treatment from adults. Children's identity exploration and unfair treatment were not associated with parents' emphasis on ethnic pride, heritage, and diversity (Cultural Socialization/Pluralism). Thus, findings suggest that parental factors are most central in the racial socialization messages that children receive. However, children's perceptions of discrimination and information seeking regarding their own history appear to have some influence on parental messages about race.

Citations

• The Determinants of Parenting: A Process Model

Cited by

• “I disagreed with a lot of values”: Exploring Black immigrant agency in ethnic-racial socialization
• Color evasion, white normativity and ethnic-racial socialization in Chinese-Dutch families
• They raised me to resist: Examining the sociopolitical pathways between parental racial socialization and Black youth's racial justice action
• Familial racial-ethnic socialization of Multiracial American Youth: A systematic review of the literature with MultiCrit
• A review of race socialization within Black families
• Ethnic‐racial socialization in Chinese American immigrant families: Associations with middle childhood ethnic identity
• Conceptualization and measurement of birth family thoughts for adolescents and adults adopted transnationally.
• Covert Racism in the USA and Globally
• Ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and psychological adjustment among transracially adopted and nonadopted ethnic minority adults.
• Healthy African American Families in the 21st Century: Navigating Opportunities and Transcending Adversities
• It takes a village: protecting rural African American youth in the context of racism. [europepmc]
• Exploring the impact of skin tone on family dynamics and race-related outcomes. [europepmc]
• Cultural Socialization in Families with Adopted Korean Adolescents: A Mixed-Method, Multi-Informant Study. [europepmc]
• Associations between trajectories of perceived racial discrimination and psychological symptoms among African American adolescents. [europepmc]
• Racial Socialization, Racial Identity, and Academic Attitudes Among African American Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Influence of Parent-Adolescent Communication. [europepmc]
• Development of an Asian American parental racial-ethnic socialization scale. [europepmc]
• Parents' Perceived Discrimination and Adolescent Adjustment in Chinese American Families: Mediating Family Processes. [europepmc]
• Imagining the future: Perspectives among youth and caregivers in the trans youth family study. [europepmc]
• Socialization of Culture and Coping with Discrimination Among American Indian Families: Examining Cultural Correlates of Youth Outcomes. [europepmc]
• Racial Socialization, Private Regard, and Behavior Problems in African American Youth: Global Self-Esteem as a Mediator. [europepmc]
• Ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development among internationally adopted Korean American adolescents: A seven-year follow-up. [europepmc]
• Teacher Discrimination Reduces School Performance of African American Youth: Role of Gender. [europepmc]
• RECASTing racial stress and trauma: Theorizing the healing potential of racial socialization in families. [europepmc]
• Dealing with discrimination: Parents' and adolescents' racial discrimination experiences and parenting in African American families. [europepmc]
• Racial discrimination and alcohol problems among African American young adults: Examining the moderating effects of racial socialization by parents and friends. [europepmc]
• Racism and preparation for bias within African American families. [europepmc]
• Examining changes in African American mothers' racial socialization patterns during adolescence: Racial discrimination as a predictor. [europepmc]
• Interrupting the Pathway From Discrimination to Black Adolescents' Psychosocial Outcomes: The Contribution of Parental Racial Worries and Racial Socialization Competency. [europepmc]
• Expectations for Cross-Ethnic Inclusion by Asian America Children and Adolescents. [europepmc]
• Adolescents' own and parental expectations for cross-group friendship in the context of societal inequalities. [europepmc]
• Maternal color-consciousness is related to more positive and less negative attitudes toward ethnic-racial outgroups in children in White Dutch families. [europepmc]
• The Strong African American Families Program: Disrupting the Negative Consequences of Racial Discrimination Through Culturally Tailored, Family-Based Prevention. [europepmc]
• Children's evaluations of and reactions to racial discrimination. [europepmc]
• A Lifespan Model of Ethnic-Racial Identity. [europepmc]
• Framing resilience linked to parental ethnic-racial socialization as hidden: A hidden resilience conceptual framework. [europepmc]

Related

• Parents' ethnic-racial socialization practices: A review of research and directions for future study.
• Parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and children of color’s psychosocial and behavioral adjustment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
• Mothers' and Fathers' Racial Socialization in African American Families: Implications for Youth
• Sociodemographic and Environmental Correlates of Racial Socialization by Black Parents
• Socialization to Race and Its Relationship to Racial Identification among African Americans