Abstract
The majority of White parents in the United States are uncomfortable discussing race with their children and tend to avoid it. When they do discuss race with their children, they often take a color blind approach—in which they emphasize a belief that race does not matter—instead of a color conscious approach—in which they acknowledge race-related issues. In the current study, we sought to explore the individual difference factors that may be associated with White American parents’ racial socialization practices. Results indicated that parents’ racial bias awareness was associated with greater willingness to discuss race with their children, increased color consciousness, and decreased color blindness; when statistically controlling for their racial attitudes, motivations to respond without prejudice, and interracial contact. The potential impacts of bias awareness interventions on White parents’ racial socialization behaviors are discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1035-1056 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Journal of Social Issues |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2019 |
Funding
Parent gender was unrelated to acknowledgement of racism across all blocks. As hypothesized, greater IMS was associated with higher levels of acknowledgement of racism across all blocks in which it was included. For every unit increase in IMS, parents were 67% more likely to show an increase in acknowledging racism. EMS, interracial anxiety, and warmth toward Black people were nonsignificant across all blocks in which they were included. Children's and parents? friendships were nonsignificant in all blocks in which they were included; however, parents? interracial friendships were significantly associated with acknowledgement of racism in the final block. The rate of acknowledging racism was 49% lower for parents who had zero Black friends than parents who had one or more Black friends. Consistent with hypotheses, greater bias awareness was associated with greater acknowledgement of racism when controlling for all other variables. For each unit increase in bias awareness, there was a 33% increase in the rate of acknowledging racism.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences