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Patterns of Observed Dyadic Ethnic-Racial Socialization among Black and Latinx Families in Response to a Hypothetical Experience of Discrimination at School

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Abstract

Ethnic-racial socialization has primarily been examined as a unidirectional, caregiver-directed process. Instead, applying the Theory of Racial Socialization in Action (Smith-Bynum, 2023), the current study observed caregiver-youth conversations about a hypothetical discriminatory experience at school for patterns of dyadic ethnic-racial socialization. Participants were 353 Black (39.7%), Latinx (47.3%), and multiracial/ethnic (13%) pre-adolescents (Mage = 11.19, SD = 0.43; 45.3% female) and their caregivers (94% mothers) with low income from Dallas, Texas. Five subgroups of dyads were identified (High Dyadic Engagement, Parent-Led, Justice Salient Advocates, Child-Dominant and Low Dyadic Engagement) that differed by demographic characteristics of the dyads (e.g., race/ethnicity, caregiver education). Observing ethnic-racial socialization in action with dyads could improve the delivery of interventions to better meet the needs of families.

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Notes

  1. The measure developers’ races are reported to highlight their personal experiences with ethnic-racial socialization in Black families as a strength of the measure’s design.

  2. The wider range in accuracies for raters of Black families can be attributed to one item dropping below 70% (child’s sense of injustice) and too little variation between ratings of a second item (child negative affect).

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Acknowledgements

Mia A. Smith Bynum at the University of Maryland, College Park served as a consultant to the research team headed by Margaret O’Brien Caughy at the University of Georgia in the early stages of this project. Smith Bynum’s Theory of Racial Socialization in Action and the version of the Racial Socialization Observational Task she helped us adapt from her original measure in 2017 were critically necessary to the design and conceptualization of this study. As such, we would like to acknowledge and thank her for these contributions. As always, we would like to thank the families for their participation. This research would not be possible without them. The institutional affiliation where the work was conducted differs from the corresponding author’s present address. Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Kimberly R. Osborne, REACH Institute, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.

Authors’ Contributions

K.O. conceived of the study, facilitated its design and coordination, participated in data measurement, performed the statistical analysis, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript; M.C. participated in the design and coordination of the study, contributed to the interpretation of the data, and revised manuscript drafts for critically important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This research project was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development, grant awarded to Margaret O’Brien Caughy: 2R01 HD075311. Kimberly R. Osborne’s work at the time of the manuscript’s submission was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA039772).

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  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Kimberly R. Osborne & Margaret O’Brien Caughy

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Correspondence to Kimberly R. Osborne.

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Data collection and informed consent procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University of Texas at Dallas, IRB project #17-86. The secondary analysis of data for this study was approved by the IRB of the University of Georgia, IRB #PROJECT000038781.

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Parents and youth participating in data collection over the phone consented verbally, and those participating in the home consented in writing. Informed consent documents were available in both English and Spanish.

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Osborne, K.R., Caughy, M.O. Patterns of Observed Dyadic Ethnic-Racial Socialization among Black and Latinx Families in Response to a Hypothetical Experience of Discrimination at School. J Youth Adolescence 52, 1141–1156 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01773-y

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