Dealing with discrimination: Parents’ and adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences and parenting in African American families.

Abstract

Objectives: Survey data of 155 Midwestern African American adolescents (M age ϭ 13.25, 54.8% female) and their parents were assessed to examine whether parents' racial discrimination experiences and adolescents' gender moderated the association between adolescents' racial discrimination experiences and involved-vigilant parenting. Methods: Path analyses were conducted with racial discrimination and gender at Wave 1 predicting parenting at Wave 2, controlling for Wave 1 parenting and demographic variables. Results: Boys with high levels of racial discrimination experiences and who had parents with low racial discrimination experiences had declines in involved-vigilant parenting. There were no significant differences in involved-vigilant parenting by level of racial discrimination experience among girls. Conclusions: The results indicate that parenting may depend on both parents' and adolescents' racial discrimination experiences and characteristics.

Perceptions of adolescents' racial discrimination experiences, racial identity, and depressive symptoms among Black American fathers

“…A growing body of research demonstrates that Black parents may experience significant distress resulting from their children's experiences of racial discrimination (Colen et al, 2019;Cooper et al, 2015Cooper et al, , 2019Gee et al, 2012;Murry, 2019;Murry et al, 2018;Varner et al, 2020). We built on this work to understand how Black fathers' own racial identity may moderate the relation between their perception of adolescents' experiences of racial discrimination and their own depressive symptoms.…”

“…Although previous research has documented that Black parents may differ in their expectations of how frequently their adolescent sons and daughters might experience racial discrimination, it remains unclear whether and how adolescent boys' and girls' actual discrimination experiences might influence their parents differently. Specifically, Varner et al (2020) found that parents engaged in less involvedvigilant parenting when they experienced little discrimination but had boys with more frequent discrimination experiences. This pattern did not exist for parents of girls or parents who had experienced high levels of discrimination.…”

“…The linked lives principle would suggest that when a youth experiences racial discrimination, it would directly influence not only the youth but also their parents (Park et al, 2018). Indeed, preliminary evidence shows that child-experienced racial discrimination can negatively affect their parents, specifically by reducing parent-child relationship quality (Riina & McHale, 2012) and positive parenting practices, such as involved-vigilant parenting (i.e., parental responsiveness and demandingness; Varner et al, 2020), as well as increasing risk of parental substance use (Gibbons et al, 2004) and poor self-rated health (Colen et al, 2019). However, none of these prior studies have applied this theoretical perspective to understand how discrimination among Black youth may influence their fathers' mental health.…”

“…First, this is a correlational study, and thus we cannot ascertain causal relations. However, we tested adolescentexperienced racial discrimination as a predictor of fathers' mental health based on prior theory and empirical work (Cooper et al, 2015(Cooper et al, , 2019Gee et al, 2012;Murry, 2019;Varner et al, 2020). Adolescent-experienced racial discrimination was reported by fathers, which may be limiting because they did not experience the discrimination themselves.…”

“…Much of the existing research examining stress spillover resulting from racial discrimination is unidirectional, moving from parent to child (Anderson et al, 2015;Benner & Kim, 2009;Riina & McHale, 2012). However, some preliminary evidence suggests that this process may be more bidirectional and that racial discrimination stress experienced by youth may also influence their parents (Colen et al, 2019;Gibbons et al, 2004;Riina & McHale, 2012;Varner et al, 2020). There is a paucity of research focusing on the role of Black fathers and how fathers may experience and cope with their children's racial discrimination experiences.…”