Researchers have called for increased evaluation of the processes that contribute to African American children's successful emotional development in the face of discrimination. Parents’ racial/ethnic and emotion socialization have been linked to children's emotional adaption. Although few studies have explicitly evaluated their joint influence on African American children's emotion adaptation, researchers studying racial and ethnic socialization have indirectly incorporated emotion socialization through evaluating parents’ guided emotion regulation strategies as ways to cope with discrimination. Similarly, researchers who study emotion socialization have described emotion socialization practices among African American parents as intentionally preparing children for racial bias regarding how others perceive their emotions. In this article, we synthesize two separate and emerging literatures—the racial/ethnic socialization literature and the literature on emotion socialization among African American families—and outline a conceptual model illustrating the overlap in the two constructs and their joint influence on African American children's social‐emotional adjustment.

The current study aimed to identify parents' profiles of racial and emotion socialization practices, to determine if these profiles vary as a function of family income and young adult child gender, and to examine their links with young adults' emotional adaptation. Participants included 192 African American young adults (70% women) who ranged in age from 18 to 24 years (M = 19.44 years). Four maternal profiles emerged: cultural-supportive (high cultural socialization and supportive responses to children's negative emotions), moderate bias preparation (moderate preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and nonsupportive responses to negative emotions), high bias preparation (high preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and nonsupportive responses), and low engaged (low across racial and socialization constructs). Three paternal profiles emerged: multifaceted (moderate across racial and emotion socialization constructs), high bias preparation, and low engaged. Men were more likely to have mothers in the high bias preparation and to have fathers in the multifaceted or high bias preparation profiles. Individuals with higher income were more likely to have mothers in the cultural-supportive profile and to have fathers in the multifaceted profile. Young adults whose mothers fit the cultural-supportive profile or the moderate bias preparation profile had lower levels of depressive symptoms than young adults whose mothers fit the high bias preparation profile.

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Although perceived ethnic/racial discrimination is well established as a risk factor for depressive symptoms in ethnic minority youth, few studies have examined their longitudinal relationship over time. This study examined whether a negative attributional style, positive ethnic/racial affect, and emotional reactivity moderated the longitudinal relationship of perceived peer or adult discrimination and depressive symptoms in a sample of African American and Latino high school students (n = 155). African American and Latino youth who experienced increases in perceived peer discrimination also reported greater depressive symptoms over time, but positive ethnic/racial affect buffered the longitudinal association. Emotional reactivity also served as a significant moderator but only of the baseline association between perceived peer discrimination and depressive symptoms. Thus, perceived ethnic/racial discrimination appears to play a significant role in the development of depressive symptoms for ethnic minority youth, especially those who start high school with lower levels of positive ethnic/racial affect.

Gender and ethnic differences in young adults' emotional reactions to parental punitive and minimizing emotion socialization practices. Emerging Adulthood, 5, 83-92.