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Parental racial socialization profiles: Association withdemographic factors, racial discrimination, childhoodsocialization, and racial identityRhonda L. White-JohnsonUniversity of South CarolinaKahlil R. Ford and Robert M. SellersUniversity of MichiganAbstractThis study examines patterns of racial socialization practices in a sample of 212 African Americanmothers. We investigate the relation between parent profiles of racial socialization messages withchild and parent demographic factors and race-related experiences, as well as parent racial identityattitudes. Using latent class analyses, we identified three patterns of parent-reported racialsocialization experiences: Multifaceted, Low Race Salience, and Unengaged. In general, our findingsindicate that mothers in the Multifaceted profile were more educated, experienced more racialdiscrimination, and talked about race during their childhood more than mothers in the Unengagedprofile. The Multifaceted profile also differed from the Low Race Salience and Unengaged profileson several racial identity dimensions. While the patterned approach used in this study lends itself toa more complex study of racial socialization in future research, it also highlights the associationsbetween parent's race-relevant experiences and the messages they communicate to their childrenabout race.Adolescents are socialized to a myriad of social norms and practices in order to become well-adjusted and functioning adults in society. Whereas the task of socialization is shared betweenthe school environment, neighborhood, extended family, and other social agents, the primaryresponsibility for socialization rests with parents. Parents are expected to manage identitydevelopment, puberty, peer conflict, and school difficulties. African American parents havean added responsibility: the task of socializing their children to function in a society wheretheir racial status is devalued. As a result, many African American parents spend a significantamount of time and energy socializing their child to the role that race will play in their lives.In doing so, parents often convey messages about racial and individual pride, expectations ofdiscrimination, and intergroup relations. These activities have been commonly termed racialsocialization (Coard & Sellers, 2005; Hughes et al., 2006; Stevenson, 1997).Research has documented associations among different racial socialization messages and avariety of important outcomes including more mature identity development (Barr & Neville,2008), higher levels of self-esteem (Neblett, White, Ford, Philip, Nguyen, & Sellers, 2008),reduced problem behaviors (Bennett, 2007), better academic adjustment (Anglin & Wade,2007), reduced acculturative stress (Thompson, Anderson, & Bakeman, 2000), and increasedresilience (Brown, 2008). Perhaps, most importantly, racial socialization messages bufferAfrican American adolescents' mental health from the harmful effects of racial discriminationNIH Public AccessAuthor ManuscriptCultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 April 1.Published in final edited form as:Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2010 April ; 16(2): 237–247. doi:10.1037/a0016111.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript