RECASTing racial stress and trauma: Theorizing the healing potential of racial socialization in families.

Abstract

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.

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Black American Youth and Families: A Case Study from the EMBRace Intervention

“…By applying RS processes through an active component, that is, an intervention, we can better determine a possible causal link between RS and outcomes. In particular, that coping strategies were enhanced throughout the intervention identifies a potential pathway by which outcomes are being changed [ 3 , 32 ]. The improvement of racially-specific coping strategies through RS is akin to the ways in which general coping strategies and subsequent youth well-being are enhanced through general coping socialization [ 33 , 34 ].…”

What is Culture? Systems of People, Places, and Practices

“…That is the case of ethnic-racial identity development. Racial/ethnic minority parents socialize their children through discussions of what it means to belong to a group, which can protect their youth from the effects of racial stress and discrimination (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019). In contrast, parental socialization among White families often relies on avoiding discussing or even acknowledging race (Pahlke, Bigler, & Suizzo, 2012).…”

“…Educators, policymakers, and interventionists can also use their power to challenge and resist cultural systems. For instance, by moving away from deficit models of racial/ethnic minorities to promoting positive youth development (Gaylord-Harden, Barbarin, Tolan, & Murry, 2018) and leveraging the healing potential of racial socialization (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019). Furthermore, a system approach to power as one purpose of culture demands awareness that it cannot be restricted to single issues to address through education, policies, and interventions: "power cannot be theoretically reduced to a singular attribute, position or a simple equation of tangible costs, benefits and balance/imbalance" (Roscigno, 2011, p. 353).…”

Hands Up, Now What?: Black Families’ Reactions to Racial Socialization Interventions

“…The fatal shootings of Black American youth, including Trayvon Martin in 2012 and Michael Brown in 2014, served as a major catalyst for modern-day movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter). Furthermore, mainstream and social media outlets, accelerated through advancing technology, have expanded the reach of graphic racerelated traumatic events (Tynes et al, 2008;2019). The increase in media exposure to racebased violence raises questions about the effect and treatment of vicarious witnessing in Black American communities.…”