“Will talking about race make my child racist?” dispelling myths to encourage honest white U.S. parent-child conversations about race and racism

Wu, Deborah; Sánchez, Sirenia; Perry, Sylvia

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101420

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In contrast, very few White parents provide color conscious messages that acknowledge the history and ongoing effects of racism (Abaied & Perry, 2021; Bonilla-Silva, 2017; Hagerman, 2014; Neville et al, 2013; Pahlke et al, 2012). White parents’ reluctance may be partly due to a fear that increasing their children’s awareness of race could inadvertently increase their children’s racial biases (Hagan et al, 2023; Vittrup, 2018; Wu et al, 2022). In particular, many White parents believe that their children do not notice race and that discussing or pointing out race is racist or could make their child racist (Hagan et al, 2023; Vittrup, 2018).…”

Section: Racial Socialization In White Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases.

Perry,

Wu,

Abaied

et al. 2024

Developmental Psychology

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Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced behavior and colorblind racial ideology [CBRI]) predicted changes in each other's implicit biases, and (c) associations varied by the type of racism (subtle vs. blatant) discussed. Children's and parents' biases significantly declined, pre to postdiscussion. Parents' color conscious messages predicted greater declines and messages reflecting CBRI and external attributions predicted smaller declines in children's bias. These patterns were observed during discussions of subtle, but not blatant bias. Effects of children's messages on parents' bias were mixed. Our findings suggest that color conscious parent-child discussions may effectively reduce implicit pro-White bias in White children. Public Significance StatementAlthough they believe it to be beneficial, many White U.S. parents avoid discussing racism with their children or downplay the importance of race when they have these conversations. In the current study, we developed a method to encourage color conscious conversations in White families and found that parents' and children's racial biases reduced after the discussion. Our findings suggest that parentchild discussions about racism may effectively reduce racial biases in White families.

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Section: Racial Socialization In White Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases.

Perry,

Wu,

Abaied

et al. 2024

Developmental Psychology

Self Cite

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“…In White families, research shows that parents often avoid these ethnicity- or race-related discussions in general (Vittrup, 2018), and in response to racist events (Abaied & Perry, 2021; Zucker & Patterson, 2018). White parents’ lack of engagement in discussing racism might stem from beliefs that children are too young, that racism is irrelevant in the lives of their children (Wu et al, 2022), or misjudgments of children’s abilities to process race (Sullivan et al, 2021). Although color-evasiveness thus seems more prevalent in White families, it is not to say that parents of color do not adhere to this social norm at all.…”

Section: Color-evasivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color-evasiveness and white normativity: Examples set by parents in parent–child interactions in the Netherlands.

de Bruijn,

Emmen,

Mesman

2024

Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology

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Objectives: Parents can set examples of social norms about ethnic diversity and interethnic relations in interaction with their children. The present study examined whether and how parents set norms of colorevasiveness and White normativity when playing a social categorization game with their children. Method: In a sample of 141 White Dutch, 73 Turkish-Dutch, and 56 Black Dutch mothers of a 6-to 10-year-old child, behaviors reflecting color-evasiveness (avoiding skin color questions, asking about skin color late in the game, taking relatively long to formulate skin color questions) and White normativity (bias in ethnic-racial focus used) were observed. Two subsamples (mothers approximately 2 years later and fathers) were used to try to replicate results. Results: Color-evasiveness was most frequent among White Dutch mothers and during the version of the game including pictures of South West Asian/North African and Black adults, but did not depend on the ethnic-racial background of the researchers. All mothers who asked about skin color displayed patterns of ethnic-racial focus that reflect White normativity, by focusing on dark rather than light skin colors. This bias was irrespective of their own ethnic-racial background, ethnic-racial background of the researchers, and the version of the game. Patterns of color-evasiveness and White normativity were largely replicated in both subsamples. Conclusions: These results suggest that children might already learn societal norms that conflict with anti-racism in very basic parent-child interactions situations. Future research is needed to investigate how to foster more inclusive social norms such as color consciousness in the next generation and their parents. Public Significance StatementParents can set examples of social norms about ethnic diversity and interethnic relations in interaction with their children. The present study shows that parents can and often do display behaviors that reflect norms conflicting with anti-racism (color-evasiveness and White normativity) while playing a social categorization game with their children.

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“…In contrast, very few White parents use color conscious messages in which they acknowledge the history and ongoing effects of racism Bonilla-Silva, 2017;Hagerman, 2014;Neville et al, 2013;Pahlke et al, 2012). White parents' reluctance may be partly due to a fear that increasing their children's awareness of race could inadvertently increase their children's racial biases (Vittrup, 2018;Wu et al, 2022). In particular, many White parents believe that their children do not notice race and that discussing or pointing out race is racist or could make their child racist (Vittrup, 2018).…”

Section: White Us Parents' Racial Socialization Messages During a Lab...mentioning

confidence: 99%

White Parents' Racial Socialization During a Guided Discussion Predicts Declines in White Children's Pro-White Biases

Perry¹,

Wu²,

Abaied³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White US children’s racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided (subtle and blatant) racism discussion task for US White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children’s and parents’ (1) pro-White implicit biases changed pre-to-post conversation, (2) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced behavior, colorblind racial ideology) predicted changes in their implicit biases, and (3) associations varied by the type of racism discussed. Children’s and parents’ biases significantly declined, pre-to-post discussion. Parents’ color conscious messages predicted greater declines, and messages reflecting colorblind racial ideology and external attributions predicted smaller declines in children’s bias. These patterns were observed during discussions of subtle, but not blatant bias. Effects of children’s messages on parents’ bias were mixed. Our findings suggest that color conscious parent-child discussions may effectively reduce implicit pro-White bias in White children.

show abstract

“Will talking about race make my child racist?” dispelling myths to encourage honest white U.S. parent-child conversations about race and racism

Cited by 14 publications

References 44 publications

White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases.

White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases.

Color-evasiveness and white normativity: Examples set by parents in parent–child interactions in the Netherlands.

White Parents' Racial Socialization During a Guided Discussion Predicts Declines in White Children's Pro-White Biases

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