Racial Socialization Practices Among White American Parents: Relations to Racial Attitudes, Racial Identity, and School Diversity

Abstract

This study examines racial socialization practices among White American parents ( N = 154) of children aged 8 to 12 years, using both quantitative and qualitative measures, as well as the relations of racial attitudes, racial identity, and racial diversity of the schools that children attend to socialization practices. Responses on the qualitative socialization measure indicate that White parents are generally unlikely to discuss race or racism with their children in a direct, explicit fashion, even when the parents are responding to a situation in which racial bias is clear and salient. Parents with less biased racial attitudes were more likely to engage in color-conscious racial socialization and to present socialization messages that emphasized egalitarianism and the existence of racial discrimination. School diversity was generally unrelated to parents’ racial socialization strategies, with the exception of messages about preparation for bias against one’s own racial group.