Ethnic-Racial Socialization, Teacher Discrimination, and Black Youth's School Engagement and Achievement.

Ethnic-racial socialization is one strategy Black parents use to support their children's school engagement and academic achievement given the occurrence and toxic effects of discrimination. Egalitarianism and preparation for bias socialization messages have yielded mixed evidence of promotive and protective effects for Black youth's school outcomes, and effects may vary according to ethnicity. Thus, this research examined associations between ethnic-racial socialization messages and school engagement and achievement, and whether these messages protected against teacher discrimination effects on academic achievement transmitted through school engagement, among a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement study. Ethnic-racial socialization message content and the frequency of communication about race demonstrated different associations with engagement (i.e., school bonding, aspiration-expectation discrepancy, and disciplinary actions) and achievement (i.e., grades) for African American and Caribbean Black youth. However, the benefits were not sufficient to combat the adverse effects of teacher discrimination on school engagement and, in turn, achievement. These findings highlight the utility of integrating ethnic-racial socialization into prevention programs to support Black youth's school experiences; demonstrate the importance of attention to heterogeneity within Black youth; and underscore the critical need for prevention programs to address teacher discrimination.

Interrupting the Pathway From Discrimination to Black Adolescents' Psychosocial Outcomes: The Contribution of Parental Racial Worries and Racial Socialization Competency.

Racial discrimination can lead to psychosocial problems for Black adolescents, including internalization (e.g., depression) and externalization (e.g., conduct problems). Black parents (N = 186; Mage = 42.9) of adolescents (ages 10-18) were assessed to investigate how parental worries and racial socialization competency (i.e., confidence, skills, and stress) contribute to the association between parental discrimination experiences and their adolescents' psychosocial problems. Mediation analyses indicated that the total direct models with discrimination, worries, and problems had good fit, and that the addition of worry mediated the discrimination-problems association. Furthermore, racial socialization competency moderated the association between worry and problems, wherein greater competency was associated with less impact of worry on problems. Findings illuminate potential intervention targets for buffering discrimination's influence on adolescents' psychosocial functioning.

Ethnic-racial Socialization, Perceived Neighborhood Quality, and Psychosocial Adjustment among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents.

Ethnic-racial socialization is employed by ethnic minority parents to support their children's psychosocial adjustment. These socialization messages may be associated differently with psychosocial adjustment for Black youth according to ethnicity and qualities of the neighborhood context. This research examined whether associations between ethnic-racial socialization messages and psychosocial adjustment vary by ethnicity and perceived neighborhood quality in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement study. The effects of promotion of mistrust messages varied by ethnicity, and the effects of egalitarianism messages varied depending on perceived neighborhood quality. These findings help clarify prior research which has yielded equivocal results for the effects of these messages for Black youth's psychosocial adjustment.

Choosing to see the racial stress that afflicts our Black students.

With the right training and greater racial awareness, teachers can help students cope with the stress of racism and discrimination.

The Impact of African American Parents' Racial Discrimination Experiences and Perceived Neighborhood Cohesion on their Racial Socialization Practices.

Parental racial socialization is a parenting tool used to prepare African American adolescents for managing racial stressors. While it is known that parents' racial discrimination experiences affect the racial socialization messages they provide, little is known about the influence of factors that promote supportive and communal parenting, such as perceived neighborhood cohesion. In cohesive neighborhoods, neighbors may help parents address racial discrimination by monitoring youth and conveying racial socialization messages; additionally, the effect of neighborhood cohesion on parents' racial socialization may differ for boys and girls because parents socialize adolescents about race differently based on expected encounters with racial discrimination. Therefore, the current study examines how parents' perception of neighborhood cohesion and adolescents' gender moderate associations between parents' racial discrimination experiences and the racial socialization messages they deliver to their adolescents. Participants were a community sample of 608 African American adolescents (54 % girls; mean age = 15.5) and their primary caregivers (86 % biological mothers; mean age = 42.0). Structural equation modeling indicated that parental racial discrimination was associated with more promotion of mistrust messages for boys and girls in communities with low neighborhood cohesion. In addition, parental racial discrimination was associated with more cultural socialization messages about racial pride and history for boys in neighborhoods with low neighborhood cohesion. The findings suggest that parents' racial socialization messages are influenced by their own racial discrimination experiences and the cohesiveness of the neighborhood; furthermore, the content of parental messages delivered varies based on adolescents' gender.

A qualitative analysis of black mother preparation for bias messages following incidents of racism-related violence.

Preparation for bias messages (PFB), represent a specific form of racial socialization, used to inform youth about racism and how to cope with racism-related adversity. Although research commonly examines how frequently PFB are delivered to children, few studies have qualitatively explored the heterogeneity in the content of such messages, making it difficult to ascertain how caregivers prepare and coach their children to negotiate incidents of racism-related violence. To address this gap in the literature, the present study qualitatively examined the content of PFB given to Black children from their mothers following high-profile incidents of anti-Black violence. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 mothers (Mage = 41.91) of Black children to explore how parental concerns regarding their children's safety inform the content of their PFB. Using thematic analysis, two primary themes emerged. The first theme related to psychosocial factors among caregivers that precipitated PFB (i.e., awareness of anti-Black violence, worry about the child being a victim). The second theme pertained to the different types of PFB that caregivers provided to their children (i.e., awareness of racial biases, strategies to navigate discriminatory encounters). Overall findings support and extend extant racial socialization research and have important implications for how Black youth come to understand the significance of race and racism in the aftermath of racism-related violence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic-racial socialization, family climate, and anxiety among African American and Latinx emerging adults.

Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) is an essential strategy that families of color utilize to discuss race, racism, and promote ethnic-racial pride. These strategies are necessary to help youth navigate a racialized world, particularly in emerging adulthood as youth transition away from home. There are mixed findings about the psychological benefits of messages focused on racial barriers, which raise questions about whether certain ERS messages may elicit anxiety symptoms and if there are conditions (e.g., family climate) under which ERS messages are most beneficial. Further, the interplay between ERS and family climate may vary across ethnic-racial groups. Thus, the present study examined the associations between ERS (i.e., cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust) and anxiety symptoms, and whether the moderating effects of family climate (i.e., cohesion, conflict) varied for 142 African American (AA; 83% women) and 275 Latinx (LX; 70.5% women) college students (M = 18.89, SD = 1.06). Cultural socialization and family cohesion were negatively associated with anxiety symptoms, while promotion of mistrust and family conflict were positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Preparation for bias was not associated with anxiety symptoms. For both AA and LX youth who reported high family cohesion, cultural socialization was associated with lower anxiety symptoms. Additionally, among AA youth who reported high levels of family conflict, cultural socialization was associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. The findings have important implications for understanding the unique and interactive effects of ERS and family climate on anxiety symptoms for AA and LX emerging adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Addressing the "Myth" of Racial Trauma: Developmental and Ecological Considerations for Youth of Color.

Trauma is prevalent among children and adolescents, with youth of color generally reporting greater exposure compared to White youth. One factor that may account for this difference is racial stress, which can manifest into trauma symptoms. Although racial stress and trauma (RST) significantly impacts youth of color, most of the research to date has focused on adult populations. In addition, little attention has been given to the impact of the ecological context in how youth encounter and cope with RST. As such, we propose the Developmental and Ecological Model of Youth Racial Trauma (DEMYth-RT), a conceptual model of how racial stressors manifest to influence the trauma symptomatology of children and adolescents of color. Within developmental periods, we explore how individual, family, and community processes influence youth's symptoms and coping. We also discuss challenges to identifying racial trauma in young populations according to clinician limitations and the post-traumatic stress disorder framework within the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-fifth edition (DSM-5). The article concludes with implications on applying DEMYth-RT in clinical and research settings to address RST for youth of color.

Examining changes in African American mothers' racial socialization patterns during adolescence: Racial discrimination as a predictor.

Racial socialization is a culturally relevant parenting strategy known to combat the detrimental consequences of racial discrimination for African American youth. Three limitations hinder our developmental understanding of the racial socialization process. Few studies have accounted for the combination of messages that primary caregivers convey, examined how these messages change over time, or investigated how caregivers and adolescents experiences with racial discrimination predict change in the combination of messages conveyed. Given that African American mothers are often the primary socializers in families, the current study used data from a community sample of 497 African American adolescents (52% Female; Time 1 Mage = 15.69; Time 2 Mage = 18.74) and their mothers (Time 1 Mage = 40.43; Time 2 Mage = 43.39) to identify patterns in mothers' racial socialization messages, identify how mothers' racial socialization patterns change from middle to late adolescence, and investigate whether mother- and adolescent-reported racial discrimination contribute to changes in mothers' racial socialization patterns. Latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis were used to examine these questions. Findings revealed three racial socialization patterns: balanced socializers who mistrust, cultural socialization and preparation for bias emphasizers, and low racial socializers. Most mothers were in the low racial socializers group, and most provided similar messages in middle and late adolescence. Mothers' reports of their own racial discrimination influenced the racial socialization messages mothers delivered; however, adolescent-reported racial discrimination did not. These results have implications for community-based interventions designed to help families manage racial discrimination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial Socialization, Private Regard, and Behavior Problems in African American Youth: Global Self-Esteem as a Mediator.

Racial socialization messages appear to have varying impacts on the adjustment of African American youth. To further explore this, we examined how two types of racial socialization messages might influence African American youth internalizing and externalizing behavior. The Youth Self Report was used to measure these behavior outcomes. Given that racial socialization messages may not be directly linked to behavior outcomes, we considered private regard, an aspect of racial identity, to serve as a mediator. Additionally, we examined global self-esteem as a mediator of the complex dynamic between racial socialization messages and behavior outcomes. Adolescents in our study completed paper assessments. Majority of the participants were female (56 %) and reside in a metropolitan area in the Mid-Atlantic region. Adolescent's ages ranged from 14 to 17 years with the average age being 15 years old. Path analysis revealed cultural pride and alertness to discrimination messages varied in their relation to private regard. Results also indicated a strong linkage between private regard, global self-esteem, and internalizing behaviors. Interestingly, the linkage between private regard, global self-esteem and externalizing behaviors was not as robust. Further, private regard appeared to directly and indirectly impact externalizing behaviors. The implications of these findings for racial socialization strategies, identity development (racial and global) as it pertains to behavior problems for African American adolescents are discussed.

Mother-adolescent relationship quality as a moderator of associations between racial socialization and adolescent psychological adjustment.

Parents' racial socialization messages, including messages focused on awareness, preparation, and strategies for managing racial discrimination, are necessary to help African American youth successfully navigate their daily lives. However, mixed findings regarding the utility of preparation for bias messages for African American youth's mental health adjustment raise questions about the conditions under which these protective racial socialization messages are most beneficial to African American youth. The current study examined the degree to which communication and trust as well as anger and alienation in the mother-adolescent relationship moderated associations between 2 types of preparation for bias messages, cultural alertness to discrimination and cultural coping with antagonism, and adolescent mental health. Participants were 106 African American adolescents (57% female; mean age = 15.41) who reported about their receipt of racial socialization messages, mother-adolescent relationship quality, and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that positive associations between cultural alertness to racial discrimination and youth depressive symptoms were weaker for boys in the context of higher mother-adolescent communication and trust; communication and trust were not similarly protective for girls. For boys, the positive associations between cultural coping with antagonism messages and depressive symptoms were stronger in the context of high anger and alienation in the mother-adolescent relationship. Findings suggest that qualities of the mother-adolescent relationship, in which preparation for bias messages are delivered, are important for understanding the mental health adjustment of African American adolescents.