This study explores racial socialization messages used by African American parents, specific messages according to the gender of children, and the relationship between racial socialization and racial identity attitudes as measured by the Racial Identity Attitude Scale. One hundred four African American parents participated in the study. Racial socialization was seen as important to the vast majority of parents and they reported a wide variety of socialization messages. Chi-square analysis suggests that messages differ according to gender. Multiple regression analysis suggests that internalization attitudes contribute to 19% of the variance of racial socialization attitudes, indicating that parents with internalization attitudes are more likely to view racial socialization as important. Implications and limitations of the investigation are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bagley, C. A.
, & Copeland, E. J. (1994). African and African American graduate students’racial identity and personal problem-solving strategies. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73, 167-171.
2.
Barnes, E. J.
(1991). The Black community as the source of positive self-concept for Black children: A theoretical perspective. In R. Jones (Ed.), Black psychology (pp. 667-692). Berkeley, CA: Cobb and Henry.
3.
Bowman, P. J.
, & Howard, C. (1985). Race-related socialization, motivation, and academic achievement: A study of Black youths in three-generation families. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24(2), 131-141.
4.
Boyd-Franklin, N.
(1989). Black families in therapy: A multisystems approach. New York: Guilford.
5.
Boykin, A. W.
, & Toms, F. D. (1985). Black child socialization: A conceptual framework. In H. P. McAdoo & J. L. McAdoo (Eds.), Black children: Social, educational, and parental environments (pp. 33-51). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
6.
Branch, C. W.
, & Newcombe, N. (1986). Racial attitude development among young Black children as a function of parental attitudes: A longitudinal and cross-sectional study. Child Development, 57, 712-721.
7.
Carter, R. T.
(1991). Racial identity attitudes and psychological functioning. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 19, 105-114.
8.
Chang, E.
, & Ritter, E. (1976). Ethnocentrism in Black college students. Journal of Social Psychology, 100, 89-98.
9.
Cross, W. E.
(1971). Toward a psychology of Black liberation: The Negro-to-Black conversion experience. Black World, 20, 13-27.
10.
Cross, W. E.
(1991). Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American identity. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
11.
Cross, W. E.
(1995). The psychology of nigrescence: Revising the Cross model. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 93-122). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
12.
Demo, D. H.
, & Hughes, M. (1990). Socialization and racial identity among Black Americans. Social Psychology Quarterly, 53(4), 364-374.
13.
Greene, B. A.
(1992a). Racial socialization as a tool in psychotherapy with African American children. In L. A. Vargas & J. D. Koss-Chioino (Eds.), Working with culture: Psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnic minority children and adolescents (pp. 63-81). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
14.
Greene, B. A.
(1992b). African-American women: The burden of racism and sexism. AHA Newsletter, pp. 20-23.
15.
Harrison, A. O.
, Wilson, M. N., Pine, C. J., Chon, S. Q., & Buriel, R. (1990). Family ecologies of ethnic minority children. Child Development, 61, 347-362.
16.
Helms, J. E.
(1989). Considering some methodological issues in racial identity counseling research. The Counseling Psychologist, 17(2), 227-252.
17.
Helms, J. E.
(1990). Black and White racial identity: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Greenwood Press.
18.
Johnson, R.
(1980). Black Parental Attitude Scale manual. St. Louis, MO: Black Studies Institute.
19.
Jones, A. C.
(1992). Self-esteem and identity in psychotherapy with adolescents from upwardly mobile middle-class African American families. In L. A. Vargas & J. D. Koss-Chioino (Eds.), Working with culture: Psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnic minority children and adolescents (pp. 25-42). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
20.
Parham, T. A.
, & Helms, J. E. (1981). The influence of Black students’racial identity attitudes on preferences for counselor’s race. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(3), 250-257.
21.
Parham, T. A.
, & Helms, J. E. (1985a). Attitudes of racial identity and self-esteem of Black students: An exploratory investigation. Journal of College Student Personnel, 26(2), 134-147.
22.
Parham, T. A.
, & Helms, J. E. (1985b). Relation of racial identity attitudes to self-actualization and affective states of Black students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2(3), 431-440.
23.
Parham, T. A.
, & Williams, P. T. (1993). The relationship of demographic and background factors to racial identity attitudes. Journal of Black Psychology, 19(1), 7-24.
24.
Peters, M. F.
(1985). Racial socialization of young Black children. In H. P. McAdoo & J. L. McAdoo (Eds.), Black children: Social, educational, and parental environments (pp. 159-173). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
25.
Ponterotto, J. G.
, & Wise, S. L. (1987). Construct validity study of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 218-223.
26.
Poussaint, A. F.
(1990). Forward. In D. P. Hopson & D. S. Hopson (Eds.), Different and wonderful: Raising Black children in a race-conscious society (pp. xiii-xvi). New York: Prentice Hall.
27.
Rotheram, M. J.
, & Phinney, J. S. (1987). Introduction: Definitions and perspectives in the study of children’s ethnic socialization. In J. S. Phinney & M. J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 10-28). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
28.
Sanders Thompson, V. L.
(1994). Socialization to race and its relationship to racial identification among African-Americans. Journal of Black Psychology, 20, 175-188.
29.
Schofield, J. W.
, & Anderson, K. (1987). Combining quantitative and qualitative components of research on ethnic identity and intergroup relations. In J. S. Phinney & M. J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 252-273). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
30.
Spencer, M. B.
(1988). Self-concept development. In D. T. Slaughter (Ed.), Perspectives on Black child development: New directions for child development (pp. 59-72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
31.
Spencer, M. B.
(1990). Parental values transmission: Implications for the development of African-American children. In H. E. Cheatham & J. B. Stewart (Eds.), Black families: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 111-130). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
32.
Spencer, M. B.
, Dobbs, B., & Swanson, D. P. (1988). African American adolescents: Adaptational processes and socioeconomic diversity in behavioral outcomes. Journal of Adolescence, 11, 117-137.
33.
Stevenson, H. C.
(1993). Validation of the Scale of Racial Socialization for African American Adolescents: A preliminary analysis. Psych Discourse, 24(12), 7-10.
34.
Stevenson, H. C.
(1995). Relationship of adolescent perceptions of racial socialization to racial identity. Journal of Black Psychology, 21, 49-70.
35.
Thornton, M. C.
, Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Allen, W. R. (1990). Sociodemographic and environmental correlates of racial socialization by Black parents. Child Development, 61, 401-409.
36.
Ward, J. V.
(1990). Racial identity formation and transformation. In C. Gilligan, N. D. Lyons, & T. J. Hanmer (Eds.), Making connections: The relational worlds of adolescent girls at Emma Willard School (pp. 215-232). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
