Exploring the association between parental ethnic-racial socialization and parental closeness on Black-White biracial adolescents' choice of racial identification toward blackness.

Abstract

To explore the influences of Black-White biracial adolescents' choice to racially identify with Blackness, parental ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) messages, parental race, and perceived parental closeness were examined. Specifically, this study investigated how messages that promote monoracial Black pride and messages that prepare youth for monoracial Black bias may be related to adolescents' identification with Blackness, and whether parental race or parental closeness moderated these relationships. Three hundred thirty Black-White biracial adolescents (Mage = 14.82) were recruited across the United States via social media. Participants completed the Racial Socialization Questionnaire for Biracial Adolescents and a demographic questionnaire to indicate how close they felt to each parent. The analytic sample (n = 280) included respondents who racially identified as exclusively Black, blended Black, or exclusively biracial. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed significant differences in the association between ERS messages and adolescent racial identification based on the race of the parent socializer. Further moderation analyses indicated that parental closeness, particularly regarding fathers, amplifies these findings. Maternal and paternal ERS messages are differentially associated with biracial adolescents' choice of racial identification toward Blackness. interestingly, ERS messages from White parents seem to significantly influence racial identification compared to Black parents. Parental closeness further elucidates these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).