(PS8-A17) Predictors of Racial Socialization Parenting Practices Among Black American Families

Racial socialization, a common parenting strategy among Black American caregivers, has been linked to positive outcomes such as higher self-esteem and lower levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Black youth. However, less is known about factors that predict Black caregivers’ use of different racial socialization strategies. The current study sought to address this gap by examining linkages between neighborhood characteristics, parents’ and their children’s experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination, parents’ depressive symptoms, and racial socialization messages using data from Black families living in the rural South.

 Three hundred and forty-six Black families with a pre-adolescent child participated. Cross-sectional associations were examined between (1) neighborhood risk factors (neighborhood disorder, social cohesion) and different racial socialization messages (cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and racial barriers), (2) parents’ and their children’s experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination and the racial socialization messages, and (3) parents’ depressive symptoms and the racial socialization messages. Indirect effects of the contextual stressors on racial socialization through parents’ depressive symptoms were tested as well.

Results indicated significant direct and indirect effects. Fathers’ reports of neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms were significantly negatively associated with youth-reports of cultural socialization messages. Children’s experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination were significantly positively associated with parents’ transmission of cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and racial barrier messages. There were several significant indirect effects for fathers as well: higher levels of social cohesion, lower levels of neighborhood disorder, and lower levels of interpersonal racial discrimination experiences were indirectly associated with higher levels of cultural socialization through lower levels of fathers’ depressive symptoms.

These findings suggest that contextual stressors might indirectly impact Black fathers’ cultural socialization messages through psychological functioning, such that fathers experiencing depressive symptoms may have difficulty engaging in the more positive parenting practices associated with cultural socialization (e.g., conveying messages of racial pride). Interventions that support Black families—particularly Black fathers who are confronting lower neighborhood cohesion, greater neighborhood disorder, and/or heightened interpersonal racial discrimination—may bolster Black parents’ resilience and their ability to provide positive aspects of racial socialization known to be important for Black youth.