Adult Children’s Recollections of Their White Parents’ Moral Memorable Messages about Racial Difference

Abstract

ABSTRACT A new lens for exploring family socialization about racism and racial differences, the crux of the study is college students“ (N = 181) recalled moral memorable messages (MMM) from their White parents about racial outgroups. Among those who recalled a message, the most common theme was ‘Equal Treatment,’ and included subthemes consistent with both colorblind and multicultural ideologies. ‘Racism is Real and Wrong’ prescribed uncovering and working against one’s own and others” racist acts. Adult children’s message agreement and identification with the message’s sender were both significantly greater for these two themes than for the “Racial outgroups are unequal and unwelcome” theme, which included displays and prescriptions of racist behavior. Implications are discussed in relation to existent theorizing, and for use in future research on family communication about racial difference.