Abstract:The present study was designed to examine the effects of adults' labeling and use of social groups on preschool children's intergroup attitudes. Children (N = 87, aged 3 to 5) attending daycare were given measures of classification skill and self-esteem and assigned to membership in a novel ("red" or "blue") social group. In experimental classrooms, teachers used the color groups to label children and organize the classroom. In control classrooms, teachers ignored the color groups. After three weeks, children completed multiple measures of intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that children in both types of classrooms developed ingroup-biased attitudes. As expected, children in experimental classrooms showed greater ingroup bias on some measures than children in control classrooms.

This study examines racial socialization practices among White American parents (N = 154) of children aged 8 to 12 years, using both quantitative and qualitative measures, as well as the relations of racial attitudes, racial identity, and racial diversity of the schools that children attend to socialization practices. Responses on the qualitative socialization measure indicate that White parents are generally unlikely to discuss race or racism with their children in a direct, explicit fashion, even when the parents are responding to a situation in which racial bias is clear and salient. Parents with less biased racial attitudes were more likely to engage in color-conscious racial socialization and to present socialization messages that emphasized egalitarianism and the existence of racial discrimination. School diversity was generally unrelated to parents’ racial socialization strategies, with the exception of messages about preparation for bias against one’s own racial group.

In the year prior to Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's bids to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, we explored children's views about the role of race and gender in the U.S. presidency, with a specific focus on perceptions of discrimination. Specifically, we examined children's (aged 5 to 10) knowledge of and attributions for the lack of female (Study 1, N = 76), African American (Study 2, N = 64), and Latino (Study 3, N = 65) presidents. Results indicated that children are knowledgeable about the gender, race, and ethnicity of past presidents, and that many children attribute the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents to gender and racial discrimination. Theoretical and policy implications of the work are discussed.An expanding body of work documents the ways in which race and gender influence the development of youth, particularly with respect to experiences with discrimination. Based on evidence that experience with discrimination negatively affects adults (see Albee

Many studies have found benefits of positive psychological interventions, such as gratitude promotion or thinking about best possible selves, for adolescents and adults. Almost no research, however, has been conducted on the efficacy of such interventions for children. The authors' primary goal was to compare the outcomes of gratitude promotion and best possible selves interventions to a control condition, using a sample of elementary school-aged children (N = 62, ages 5-11 years). Children participated in once-weekly intervention sessions in which they were asked to draw a picture of something for which they were grateful that day (gratitude condition), a future version of themselves as happy and engaged (best possible selves condition), or something they had done that day (control condition). Analyses of the content of children's drawings indicated that children of this age were capable of articulating things for which they were grateful and positive future selves. Outcomes for the gratitude condition did not differ from the control condition; however, participants in the best possible selves condition showed greater gains in self-esteem than those in the gratitude or control conditions.

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