Unpacking Racial Socialization: Considering Female African American Primary Caregivers' Racial Identity

Abstract

The relationship between female African American primary caregivers' racial identity and their racial socialization emphases was examined. Three components of racial identity were evaluated: (1) the importance of race to the self-concept (centrality); (2) affective feelings towards group membership (private regard); and, (3) perceptions of how group members are perceived by nonmembers (public regard). Latent class cluster analysis was used to identify racial identity profiles, or dominant combinations of racial centrality, private regard, and public regard among a sample of 208 female African American primary caregivers. Mean differences in the content of caregivers' socialization emphases by profile group were then assessed. Findings indicated that caregivers' with different identity profiles emphasized different messages. These findings and their implications are discussed.