The Enhancing and Buffering Role of Ethnic Socialization on the Links Between Discrimination and Prosocial Behaviors Among U.S. Latinx Young Adults

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to examine ethnic socialization as a moderator in the links between discrimination and two forms of prosocial behaviors (i.e., actions intended to benefit others) in order to better understand the role of socialization in protecting young adults from discrimination experiences. Participants were 1,527 Latinx college students ( M age = 20.35 years, SD = 3.88; 75.2% women) who completed measures of their perceptions of discrimination, family ethnic socialization experiences, and their tendencies to engage in selflessly (altruistic) versus selfishly (public) motivated prosocial behaviors. The results demonstrated that discrimination was positively associated with altruistic prosocial behaviors but was not associated with public prosocial behaviors. Ethnic socialization was positively associated with public prosocial behaviors and negatively associated with altruistic prosocial behaviors. Additionally, ethnic socialization moderated the link between discrimination and both altruistic and public prosocial behaviors. The results highlight the important role of discrimination in young adults’ prosocial behaviors, while also demonstrating ethnic socialization as a protective factor.