Effects of Racism on Child Development: Advancing Antiracist Developmental Science

Abstract

Racism, a multidimensional system of oppression and exclusion, is part of the foundation of the United States and is detrimental to the health and well-being of Black communities and other racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) communities. There is an emerging body of literature that draws attention to the impact of racism and different racialized experiences on the lives of REM children. Based on the Racism + Resilience + Resistance Integrative Study of Childhood Ecosystem (R3ISE) and focused on attending to the interaction between racism and the cultural assets of REM families and communities, this review highlights how racism impacts REM children's healthy development and learning. In addition to calling for research that advances racial equity using the R3ISE integrative model, we also identify policies that have some potential to ensure equity in economic stability and security, home and community environment, birth outcomes, and educational opportunities for REM children and their families. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, Volume 4 is December 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Black motherhood and the dual pandemics: The protective role of stable income on mental wellbeing

“…These stressors may be particularly pronounced among Black mothers of young children (ages 5 and under). Black mothers of young children had the multi‐layered responsibilities of caregiving, given the lower rates of participation in early care and education (Barnett & Jung, 2020; Iruka et al., 2021), coupled with the responsibility to buffer their young children's experiences of racism and pandemic‐related stressors, given young children's heightened vulnerability to the impacts of stressful events (Bartlett et al., 2020; Boyraz & Legros, 2020; Iruka, Durden et al., 2021; Iruka et al., 2022). As such, the purpose of this paper is to explore the association between COVID‐19 related financial difficulties, racial discrimination, and the protective role of stable income on mental wellbeing (i.e., anxiety, depression, loneliness, and stress) among Black mothers with young children.…”

Child care and family processes: Bi‐directional relations between child care quality, home environments, and maternal depression

“…Importantly, the SECCYD also lacked significant racial diversity (77% White). Future work would benefit from consideration of these relations in more racially diverse samples, given how the lived realities of racism could affect the dynamics we studied (see Iruka et al, 2022). As such, the current study findings may have limited generalizability beyond the investigated sample.…”

Invisible targets: Conceptualizing U.S. Latine youth's exposure to family‐level vicarious racism

“…For Latine families, structural racism may manifest in anti‐immigrant, anti‐Black, or anti‐Brown policies and other institutionalized practices that significantly shape Latine families' ability to access fair work, health care, education, and housing (Ayón et al, 2017 ). Cultural racism is described as “a global perspective that reflects beliefs in the supremacy of one group over another and is entrenched in people's ideological views, everyday behaviors, language, symbols, and media” (Iruka et al, 2022 , p. 44). White supremacist ideology gives way to nativist beliefs and behaviors that threaten the health and well‐being of Latine youth and their families.…”