A review of race socialization within Black families

Abstract

This manuscript provides a critical and comprehensive review of research on race socialization within Black families. Race socialization is defined as specific verbal and non-verbal messages transmitted to younger generations for the development of values, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs regarding the meaning and significance of race and racial stratification, intergroup and intragroup interactions, and personal and group identity. Reviewed are published articles that address either analytical or theoretical approaches to understanding Black families’ race socialization practices. First, theoretical perspectives of the race socialization process are reviewed. Second, this review defines race socialization in Black families. It then describes modes of message transmittal. Next, it focuses on three domains of research on race socialization: (a) prevalence, (b) content, and (c) race socialization as a predictor of child and adult outcomes. It concludes by outlining important challenges and issues in the literature to encourage the development of future research.