Black youth overwhelmingly experience racial discrimination (RD). Racial socialization (RS), or racial communication between families, mitigates RD stress by expanding youth coping strategies. Although most Black parents currently discuss racial content with their children, less is known about this RS quality. The burgeoning construct of RS competency, or the skills, confidence, and stress of RS transmission, explores these emotion-focused approaches. Drawing on the racial encounter coping appraisal and socialization theory (RECAST), the current study seeks to depict RS competency through qualitative methods. Through deductive analysis, we examined in-depth interviews from nine parents of 10- to 14-year-olds enrolled in a RS intervention with familial conversations on RD in an urban mid-Atlantic city. Overall, findings support what has been found in quantitative studies of RS competency, particularly that subfactors are related yet unique, parent’s prior experiences impact current practices, and parental concerns for children drive practices and competency. This study also unearthed findings of processes occurring in light of a contentious context for Black adolescents. To our knowledge, this is the first study to qualitatively investigate these emotional and cognitive processes inherent in RS competency, which has future implications for family interventions to disrupt the psychological impact racism exacts on Black adolescents and families.
Historically, psychological science has contributed to maintaining the hegemony of white normativity and a fallacious belief in objective science that speaks to one singular truth about race. Due to a widespread unfamiliarity with critical theories and research methods in the field, novel approaches to psychological scientific inquiry are warranted to support scholars in pursuing racially-just empirical inquiries with socially-just implications. This manuscript aims to (1) introduce an evolution from critical race theory in psychology to a set of principles to guide research praxis: PsyCrit and (2) demonstrate its utility through use in an exemplar qualitative study. Qualitative coding analysis of semi-structured interviews with four Black mothers and one Black father ( n = 5) participating in the Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race intervention was conducted to model the use of PsyCrit in practice and deepen our understanding of parent factors in Black families. This manuscript unpacks four aspects of the exemplar study utilizing four of the seven tenets of PsyCrit. The depth of analysis provided by the framework suggests that these principles may serve in guiding psychological researchers toward more nuanced investigations, especially as they relate to issues of race or racism.
The rise of Black maternal mortality rates throughout the country demonstrates a great need to utilize innovative frameworks to craft solutions that improve health outcomes for Black birthing people. Previous research and interventions have examined individual- and policy-level factors to reduce maternal mortality; however, these methods may lack a true community-centered approach to understanding the experiences of Black birthing people in local communities that have been disproportionately impacted. In addition, certain research methods may not recognize other marginalized intersectional identities (e.g., Black transgender men) who experience inequities in Black maternal health. This commentary aims to provide recommendations for utilizing community-centered strategies on Black maternal mortality informed by community-based participatory research principles.
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