Culturally Relevant Parenting Approaches Among African American and Latinx Children and Families: Toward Resilient, Strengths-Based, Trauma-Informed Practices

Abstract

Children and families of color in the United States (U.S.) have long had to battle to develop a positive identity in the face of discrimination based upon race, ethnicity, immigration status, and gender. Historically, racial-ethnic minorities have experienced various types of trauma exposures in the U.S., including enslavement, family separation, deportation, colonization, discrimination, ridicule, and stereotyping that permeate U.S. society. Yet, they still have managed within their families to advance some sense of shared within-group identities, values, beliefs, and practices that have fostered child and family development. This paper focuses on the experiences of African American and Latinx families who, though distinct in historical and cultural experiences, have some similarities in social disparities that should inform parenting programs. Prevention and intervention that seeks to engage families of color should be sensitive to centuries of racism and structural inequalities that have contributed to their unique socio-cultural contexts (Bernal et al., 2009; Spencer et al., 1997).We first explore the historical context of racial-ethnic trauma among children of color in the U.S. Second, we build upon the work in traumatic stress as a rationale for examining culturally relevant and responsive adaptations that address linguistics, worldviews, and contexts, describing the ways in which these concepts are evidenced in programming and effects upon family processes, and youth socio-emotional development. We discuss the implications for multi-group intervention, homogenous and heterogeneous group composition, underscoring the value of critical frameworks attuned to psychological trauma that draw upon a strengths-based perspective of culture for African American and Latinx children and families.

Culturally humble and anti‐racist couple and family interventions for African Americans

“…This can be done by bolstering the couples/family's support network and including extended family members in the intervention (Bean et al, 2002; Bell‐Toliver et al, 2009). Extended family work, which includes storytelling and prayer and focuses on cultural values regarding responsibility, cooperation, interdependence, and interconnectedness, improves mental health outcomes (Smith et al, 2022).…”

Considerations in cultural adaptation of parent–child interventions for African American mothers and children exposed to intimate partner violence

“…That is, the interventions that have been evaluated thus far do not explicitly incorporate cultural components of African American parenting practices. Family-based programs that attend to the unique sociocultural contexts of diverse families can improve positive parenting and psychosocial outcomes in parents and their children ( Coard et al, 2007 ; Smith et al, 2022 ). Next, we turn to the literature on African American parenting practices and a discussion of how existing parenting programs for IPV-exposed mothers and children might be enhanced for African American mothers and children.…”

“…Historically, the quality and nature of African American families have been viewed from a deficit lens. From this theoretical perspective, African American families’ experiences are conceptualized as the result of innate deficiencies that perpetuate high poverty, unemployment, crime rates, single-parent families, and welfare recipiency, and the traditional matriarchal structure is thought to be the mechanism by which families get “caught in a tangle of pathology” ( Briscoe, 2000 , p. 98; Smith et al, 2022 ). This perception of African American parents carries into school systems, where they are perceived as uninvolved, unconcerned, and threatening by educators for not demonstrating investment in their children’s education according to traditional conceptualizations of parental involvement (e.g., physical presence at school events, homework assistance, communication with teachers, monitoring academic performance) ( Love et al, 2021 ).…”

Evaluation of Culturally Informed and Flexible Family‐Based Treatment for Adolescents (CIFFTA) implemented in community‐based settings

“…Immigration (Cleary et al, 2018), acculturation (Cervantes et al, 2019), and race‐related stressors increase vulnerability to negative mental health outcomes (Berger & Sarnyai, 2015; Jones & Neblett, 2017). Family‐based interventions that are equipped to address the unique stressors that emerge in the treatment of Latino and Black youth may be particularly attractive to these families (Santisteban et al, 2013, 2017; Boyd‐Franklin & Bry, 2019; Smith et al, 2022).…”