One talk at a time: Developing an ethnic‐racial socialization intervention for Black, Latinx, and Asian American families

Abstract

Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) can promote positive outcomes in minoritized youth, but parents often face challenges in effectively engaging in these conversations. We describe the development of a video-based online parent intervention program aimed at improving parental motivation, efficacy, and skills in having ERS conversations. The program focuses on balancing cultural socialization and preparation for bias messages and integrates themes of coping with future discrimination with the goal of promoting adjustment in youth. The video-based program (One Talk at A Time: OTAAT) consists of 11 short videos designed to bolster parental efficacy and skills via motivational, didactic modules, and social modeling. We describe our intervention (specifically designed for Black, Latinx, and Asian American families), a sample of parents (N = 15) who interfaced with the intervention, and preliminary evidence of its impact via a pre-post design and program evaluation interviews. Discussion centers on implications of our approach for future prevention efforts.

Latinx youth's ethnic‐racial identity in context: Examining ethnic‐racial socialization in a new destination area

“…Our research shows that parents’ ethnic‐racial socialization beliefs and practices can shape youth's ERI, consistent with existing research with Latinx families (Hernández et al., 2014; Umaña‐Taylor et al., 2013). ERI interventions for Latinx youth may be expanded to incorporate parents and specifically address messaging about ethnicity and race (ERS) (Stein et al., 2021). Anderson and colleagues (2018) have demonstrated the feasibility and cultural relevance of a racial socialization intervention for Black families, and growing evidence suggests that targeting Latinx parents’ ERS beliefs and behaviors may be a promising avenue for promoting ERI in Latinx youth.…”

Raising justice‐minded youth: Parental ethnic‐racial and political socialization and Black youth's critical consciousness

“…Parental ethnic‐racial socialization is a process that may promote youth's critical consciousness (Anyiwo, et al., 2018; Bañales et al., 2019a). Parents communicate messages to youth that vary in the extent to which youth are encouraged to reflect on race and racism in their lives and society (Hughes et al., 2006; Stein et al., 2021). Two types of messages parents may communicate to Black youth are racial pride and alertness to discrimination socialization (Stevenson et al., 2002).…”

Ethnic‐racial socialization among Black, Latinx, and White parents of elementary school‐age children

“…Thus, these concerns may be a positive force for helping parents think critically about these issues. More work similar to that of other interventions, like EMBRace and OTAAT, is needed to help parents strategize around their ERS practices (Anderson et al., 2019; Stein et al., 2021), especially discussions of discrimination, which parents of young children may be particularly wary of engaging. Parents need more information regarding how they can help their children form attitudes and behaviors that move us toward a more just, inclusive, and equitable future.…”

“…Programs have risen to this challenge, including EMBRace, an intervention aimed at helping Black parents and adolescents use racial socialization as a way to successfully cope with race‐related stressors like discrimination (Anderson et al., 2019). The program One Talk at A Time (OTAAT) also aims to help Black, Latinx, and Asian American parents build skills and motivation to send ethnic‐racial socialization messages to their children (Stein et al., 2021). As such interventions continue to develop, they may inform future interventions targeting younger children and ethnically and racially diverse families.…”