This study uses two waves of data to examine the relations among racial discrimination experiences, patterns of racial socialization practices, and psychological adjustment in a sample of 361 African American adolescents. Using latent class analyses, we identified four patterns of child‐reported racial socialization experiences: Moderate Positive, High Positive, Low Frequency, and Moderate Negative. Experiencing racial discrimination was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, more perceived stress, and lower levels of well‐being. On average, adolescents who experienced High Positive patterns of racial socialization reported the most positive psychological adjustment outcomes, while adolescents in the Low Frequency and Moderate Negative clusters reported the least favorable outcomes. Results suggest that High Positive racial socialization buffers the negative effects of racial discrimination on adolescents' perceived stress and problem behaviors. Together, the findings suggest that various patterns of racial socialization practices serve as risk, compensatory, and protective factors in African American adolescent psychological adjustment.

This study uses two waves of data to examine the relationships among patterns of racial socialization experiences and racial identity in a sample of 358 African American adolescents (60% female and 40% male). Using latent class analyses, we identified three patterns of adolescent-reported racial socialization experiences: High Positive, Moderate Positive, and Low Frequency. Adolescent-reported racial socialization experiences at Wave 1 were associated with Wave 2 adolescent racial identity approximately one year later. Specifically, High Positive and Low Frequency racial socialization were associated with racial centrality, assimilationist ideology, and nationalist ideology. These findings suggest that various patterns of racial socialization practices play an important role in the developing significance and meaning that African American adolescents ascribe to race.

This study examines patterns of racial socialization practices in a sample of 212 African American mothers. We investigate the relation between parent profiles of racial socialization messages with child and parent demographic factors and race-related experiences, as well as parent racial identity attitudes. Using latent class analyses, we identified three patterns of parent-reported racial socialization experiences: Multifaceted, Low Race Salience, and Unengaged. In general, our findings indicate that mothers in the Multifaceted profile were more educated, experienced more racial discrimination, and talked about race during their childhood more than mothers in the Unengaged profile. The Multifaceted profile also differed from the Low Race Salience and Unengaged profiles on several racial identity dimensions. While the patterned approach used in this study lends itself to a more complex study of racial socialization in future research, it also highlights the associations between parent's race-relevant experiences and the messages they communicate to their children about race.Adolescents are socialized to a myriad of social norms and practices in order to become welladjusted and functioning adults in society. Whereas the task of socialization is shared between the school environment, neighborhood, extended family, and other social agents, the primary responsibility for socialization rests with parents. Parents are expected to manage identity development, puberty, peer conflict, and school difficulties. African American parents have an added responsibility: the task of socializing their children to function in a society where their racial status is devalued. As a result, many African American parents spend a significant amount of time and energy socializing their child to the role that race will play in their lives. In doing so, parents often convey messages about racial and individual pride, expectations of discrimination, and intergroup relations. These activities have been commonly termed racial socialization (Coard & Sellers, 2005;Hughes et al., 2006;Stevenson, 1997).Research has documented associations among different racial socialization messages and a variety of important outcomes including more mature identity development (Barr & Neville, 2008), higher levels of self-esteem (Neblett, White, Ford, Philip, Nguyen, & Sellers, 2008), reduced problem behaviors (Bennett, 2007), better academic adjustment (Anglin & Wade, 2007), reduced acculturative stress (Thompson, Anderson, & Bakeman, 2000), and increased resilience (Brown, 2008). Perhaps, most importantly, racial socialization messages buffer African American adolescents' mental health from the harmful effects of racial discrimination NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptCultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 April 1. Published in final edited form as:Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2010 April ; 16(2): 237-247. doi:10.1037/a0016111. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript (Neble...

The present study examined the effect of caregivers' experiences of racial discrimination on their adolescent children's psychological functioning among a sample of 264 African American dyads. Potential relations between caregiver discrimination experiences and a number of indicators of adolescents' (aged 12-17) psychological functioning over time were examined. It was found that caregiver discrimination experiences were positively related to adolescents' symptoms of depression and negatively related to their psychological well-being. Additional analysis revealed interactions between the effects of caregiver discrimination experiences and family income on all 3 outcomes. Greater caregiver discrimination experiences and lower family income were risk factors for the youth in the sample. These findings underscore the deleterious consequence of caregivers' discrimination experiences on African American youth's psychological health.

Historically, racial identity research has focused on either the process by which identity develops or the content of the identities that individuals hold. This paper investigates the nexus of these approaches. Specifically, cluster analysis was used to locate 204 African American college students in one of four statuses of development outlined by Phinney (1989) and examine movement across clusters over time. Mean differences in the content of individuals' racial Centrality, racial Regard, and racial Ideology beliefs across clusters at both time points were then assessed. Results indicate some relationship between process and content such that higher levels of development are associated with higher levels of identification with and more positive attitudes toward one's racial group.