This article explores the central roles in family research and practice of race and racism in the reframing of family systems theory (FST) when applied to Black and/or African American families. Specifically, we discuss how current concepts of FST allow for an understanding of racial and ethnic socialization in the parent–child familial subsystem. We then theorize the potential reframing of FST to better accommodate race, ethnicity, and racism, and suggest an expansion of the theory by including the components of historical time and choice. We conclude with a brief discussion of the practical implications of our suggested expansion.

Previous research highlights the importance and pervasiveness of racial discrimination for minority youth in the United States. Adolescents may experience either personal or group race-based discrimination. While past research found both forms of discrimination are harmful to well-being it is unknown whether parental microprotections, which may buffer against the negative effects of discrimination, protect against both forms of discrimination. Informed by ecological frameworks the present study examined whether parent microprotections (parental warmth/acceptance, cultural socialization, preparation for bias) buffered the effects of personal and group discrimination on adolescents' depressive symptoms. Participants were African American early adolescents (N = 129; 58% female) and their parents (90% mothers). Adolescents attended a Midwestern, Title 1, urban, public middle school and completed surveys in their homerooms and parents completed paper-pencil surveys at home, online or surveys via telephone. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test whether adolescents' personal and group discrimination at school were related to their reports of depressive symptoms and evaluate whether parent microprotections buffered these associations. Results showed that parental microprotections moderated the effects of personal discrimination on depressive symptoms but did not buffer the effects of group discrimination. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between personal and group discrimination. Further, additional protective factors need to be identified and tested to better understand parental actions that potentially buffer the negative effects of discrimination.

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As the number of multiracial families in the United States steadily increases, so does the need for more relevant conceptual frameworks that capture the structures and processes in these families. Much of the theoretical and empirical literature on the multiracial experience has focused on identity development, which has resulted in a body of scholarship heavily steeped in the individual level of analysis that neglects dyadic process‐oriented perspectives. More specifically, multiracial families experience complex life transitions just as their monoracial counterparts do, yet there is little recognition and/or understanding of their strengths and challenges, both as a family unit and as individuals within these family structures. This article proposes a conceptual model to describe and explain the relationship satisfaction of interracial couples across the transition to parenthood. We pay particular attention to the factors that are particular to interracial couples across this life transition.

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