What's Race Got to Do With It? Racial Socialization's Contribution to Black Adolescent Coping

Abstract

While youth generally experience stressors from developmental milestones, Black youth also face racialized stressors. Racial socialization has been found to help Black youth cope with racialized stressors, but research has yet to show its contribution to coping beyond general socialization practices. This study examines how racial socialization contributes beyond that of general coping socialization to coping behaviors. Fifty-eight third-eighth-grade (M = 11.3, SD = 1.54) youth reported general coping socialization and racial socialization practices and coping behaviors. Results indicate that for engagement coping, racial socialization messages contributed significantly to parent-provided engaged socialization strategies. Implications are considered for the ways in which Black youth experience stress and require culturally specific practices for successful coping with frequently encountered stressors.

EMBRace: Developing a Racial Socialization Intervention to Reduce Racial Stress and Enhance Racial Coping among Black Parents and Adolescents

“…that are perceived to tax or exceed existing individual and collective resources or threaten well-being" (Harrell, 2000, p. 44). Given that RST in Black families is an especially damaging form of stress and manifests in family systems distinctly from other stressors (e.g., Anderson et al, 2015), specific socialization strategies for racial matters are important (Anderson, Jones, Anyiwo, McKenny, & Gaylord-Harden, 2018). Black children and adolescents become particularly vulnerable to racialized stress as they progress through developmental stages, evidenced by poorer sleeping habits and internalizing and externalizing problems (Simons et al, 2002).…”

“…Moreover, Black youth who report greater perceived control over racial experiences indicate more frequent approach coping strategies (e.g., seeking social support and problem-solving strategies; Scott & House, 2005), a technique that may be beneficial in reducing internalizing and externalizing problems associated with perceived discrimination. Indeed, youth who report more frequent RS also indicate using more engaged coping strategies beyond that found solely from generalized coping socialization practices (Anderson, Jones et al, 2018). Thus, approach-oriented racial communication within families may be mutually beneficial for parents and adolescents hoping to alleviate the stress experienced from racial discrimination (Anderson, Jones, et al, 2018;Anderson, et al, 2018b;Anderson, McKenny, Mitchell, Koku, & Stevenson, 2018).…”

“…Indeed, youth who report more frequent RS also indicate using more engaged coping strategies beyond that found solely from generalized coping socialization practices (Anderson, Jones et al, 2018). Thus, approach-oriented racial communication within families may be mutually beneficial for parents and adolescents hoping to alleviate the stress experienced from racial discrimination (Anderson, Jones, et al, 2018;Anderson, et al, 2018b;Anderson, McKenny, Mitchell, Koku, & Stevenson, 2018). As such, a second important question emerges: How can families improve their coping skills and socialization practices?…”

“…Similar to adults, RST impedes youth's ability to effectively appraise stressors following a racial encounter (Stevenson et al, 1997). Given that RST in Black families is an especially damaging form of stress and manifests in family systems distinctly from other stressors (e.g., Anderson et al, 2015), specific socialization strategies for racial matters are important (Anderson, Jones, Anyiwo, McKenny, & Gaylord-Harden, 2018).…”

Introduction to an Applied Developmental Science spotlight series: Social justice frameworks to guide research, preventive interventions, and policies for diverse populations

“…We launch this spotlight series in Applied Developmental Science with an introduction of this social justice series by coeditors, Anderson and Murry. The hope for the spotlight series is that it will both synthesize existing work and provide a useful pathway for future research The first invited thematic article, by Barbarin, Gaylord-Harden, Murry, and Tolan's article, Chronic adversity, racism, and positive development of African American boys and young men: Toward a social justice perspective on developmental research, highlights ways in which the lives of African American boys and men (AABM) are at elevated risk for poor outcomes due to social injustice and inequities occurring through and as a consequence of institutional and social norms that perpetuate sociopolitical oppression, racism, and marginalization (Anderson et al, 2018;Tynes et al, 2008). They propose a model, Adaptive Calibration (AC), to explain ways in which growing up in this toxic environment create an ecology that "calls for adaptive behavioral responses" that, when misunderstood, can further compromise development and adjustment of AABM.…”