For youth and adults of color, prolonged exposure to racial discrimination may result in debilitating psychological, behavioral, and health outcomes. Research has suggested that race-based traumatic stress can manifest from direct and vicarious discriminatory racial encounters (DREs) that impact individuals during and after an event. To help their children prepare for and prevent the deleterious consequences of DREs, many parents of color utilize racial socialization (RS), or communication about racialized experiences. Although RS research has illuminated associations between RS and youth well-being indicators (i.e., psychosocial, physiological, academic, and identity-related), findings have mainly focused on RS frequency and endorsement in retrospective accounts and not on how RS is transmitted and received, used during in-the-moment encounters, or applied to reduce racial stress and trauma through clinical processes. This article explores how systemic and interpersonal DREs require literate, active, and bidirectional RS to repair from race-based traumatic stress often overlooked by traditional stress and coping models and clinical services. A novel theory (Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory [RECAST]), wherein RS moderates the relationship between racial stress and self-efficacy in a path to coping and well-being, is advanced. Greater RS competency is proposed as achievable through intentional and mindful practice. Given heightened awareness to DREs plaguing youth, better understanding of how RS processes and skills development can help youth and parents heal from the effects of past, current, and future racial trauma is important. A description of proposed measures and RECAST’s use within trauma-focused clinical practices and interventions for family led healing is also provided.

Despite the proclamation of a “postracial” society, racism in the United States remains “alive and sick” (S. P. Harrell, 2000), negatively impacting the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of Black Americans. Moreover, the complex impact of racism throughout the life span is inadequately understood. Coping with the insidiousness of racism in its myriad forms requires recognizing how it expresses across development. In this developmental overview, we apply a life-course perspective (Gee, Walsemann, & Brondolo, 2012) to investigate racism-related stress and coping over time. Within each period of development, we first explore how racism-related stress may present for Black Americans and then document what coping from this stress looks like, highlighting extant strategies and interventions where they exist. This work concludes with a set of definitional, methodological, and clinical future directions and recommendations for improving the field’s ability to mitigate the deleterious impact of racism-related stress.

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This study examined patterns of: (1) observed racial socialization messages in dyadic discussions between 111 African American mothers and adolescents (M age = 15.50) and (2) mothers’ positive emotions displayed during the discussion. Mothers displayed more advocacy on behalf of their adolescents in response to discrimination by a White teacher than to discrimination by a White salesperson. Mothers displayed consistent emotional support of adolescents’ problem solving across both dilemmas but lower warmth in response to the salesperson dilemma. Findings illustrate evidence of the transactional nature of racial socialization when presented with adolescents’ racial dilemmas. The role of adolescent gender in mothers’ observed racial socialization responses is also discussed. A framework for a process-oriented approach to racial socialization is presented.

Researchers have illustrated the deleterious psychological effects that racial discrimination has exerted on Black Americans. The resulting racial stress and trauma (RST) from experiences with discrimination has been linked to negative wellness outcomes and trajectories for Black youth and families. Racial socialization (RS)—defined as the verbal and nonverbal messages that families use to communicate race to their children—can be a cultural strength and has been associated with positive outcomes in Black youth. Furthermore, the Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory (RECAST) encourages the frequent and competent use of RS between family members to cope with the negative impact of RST. Guided by RECAST, the purpose of this article is to describe the development of the Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race (EMBRace) intervention targeting the RS practices between Black adolescents and families. The authors explore current research on RST, discuss why traditional coping models for stress are inadequate for racially specific stressors, highlight RECAST as a burgeoning racial coping and socialization model, and describe how RS can be used as a tool to intervene within Black families. This is followed by a detailed description of the development and use of the EMBRace intervention which seeks to reduce RST through RS psychoeducation and practice, stress management, and the promotion of bonding in Black families. This article aims to serve as an example of a culturally relevant RS intervention for Black families who may benefit from clinical treatment for psychological distress from racially discriminatory encounters.

The goal of this article is to report initial feasibility and coping response data from a pilot study of a new five-session intervention (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race [EMBRace]) for Black families utilizing racial socialization to address stress and trauma from racial encounters. Ten caregiver and youth dyads were enrolled and completed the EMBRace intervention. Feasibility was based on a closed-option survey for therapists as well as open-ended participant responses to program satisfaction post-intervention. Responses to stress management were assessed via repeated measures of self-reported coping strategies throughout the sessions. EMBRace was deemed to be acceptable by the majority of therapists and participants with regard to discussing racial encounters. Participant responses were categorized into five primary codes, including advice, clinician approach, program changes, likes, and dislikes. Participants’ coping data throughout the intervention indicates changes in the hypothesized direction (e.g., increased attention to and identification of stressor and decreased stress). The pilot data indicate the desirability of the intervention as well as useful participant feedback for future iterations of EMBRace.

The relationship between racial discrimination, parental functioning, and child adjustment is not well understood. The goal of the present study was to assess parental reports of discrimination in relation to depression and parenting practices, as well as on subsequent child internalizing and externalizing problems in low-income Black families. Data include a subsample of the Early Steps project, a multisite longitudinal study of financial and behaviorally at-risk families. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze our hypothesized model. Excellent model fit was established after removing externalizing problems from the model. As predicted, indirect associations were found from discrimination to parental depression, parenting, and child internalizing problems; and direct associations were found from discrimination to child internalizing problems. The results are consistent with findings suggesting that discrimination is negatively associated with adult well-being; moreover, contribute to the sparse literature on the effects of discrimination beyond the direct recipient. Finally, that parent discrimination was directly associated with child emotional problems suggests the continued need to address and treat discriminatory practices more generally.

African American youth are more likely than their peers from other racial and ethnic groups to experience interpersonal traumas and traumatic racist and discriminatory encounters. Unfortunately, evidence-based trauma treatments have been less effective among these youth likely due to these treatments not being culturally tailored to address both interpersonal and racial trauma. In this article, we utilize the racial encounter coping appraisal and socialization theory to propose suggestions for adapting trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy—an evidence-based trauma treatment for children and adolescents—to include racial socialization or the process of transmitting culture, attitudes, and values to help youth overcome stressors associated with ethnic minority status. We conclude by discussing implications for the research and clinical community to best promote healing from both interpersonal and racial trauma for African American youth.