In preparing children for a racially unequal society, families of color can benefit from more support, study finds

A McGill-led team of researchers has gained insight into how parents of color in the United States approach discussions with their children aimed at teaching them the skills they need to survive and thrive in a racially unequal society.

A key finding of the recent paper in Developmental Psychology is that parents are especially in need of information, support and guidance when it comes to preparing their children to face discrimination and bias.

“One of our goals was to identify the most important messages around race and ethnicity that parents are already giving their children, so that people can really focus on them and get the most bang for their buck,” said Keita Christophe, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University.

The researchers surveyed a total of close to 600 Black, Latinx and Asian families with adolescent children in the United States in fall 2020. By using a system that relies on algorithms to identify interconnected and recurring elements in conversation, they were able to pinpoint three main types of messages that act as the linchpins of what many parents of color teach their children about race, ethnicity and racism.

These messages focus on teaching children to feel pride in their ethnicity and history, to value diversity and to be prepared to identify, and cope with, possible discrimination.

“It is crucial for parents of color to engage in ethnic-racial socialization, since we’ve known for about 20 years that receiving these messages leads to positive mental health and can help youth build a strong, positive identity, which prepares them to navigate our world,” Christophe said.

One of the goals of the research is to provide new information to improve existing videos or online sites that have been developed by psychologists, social workers and others over the past five or six years to help families of color have these challenging conversations with their children.

“The videos and online sites don’t tell parents exactly what to say because it’s so individual and depends on what group they’re from and the age of the kid. But they’re meant to help empower the parents to start the process of having these conversations with kids because we know the benefits in terms of their ability to cope with discrimination when they face it.”

In addition to looking at the substance of the parental messages, the researchers were interested in understanding how a parent’s level of comfort or discomfort with the contents of their messages might influence the information they shared with their children.

“Parents of color often feel very comfortable having conversations with their children around pride in their group’s values, traditions and holidays. But they tend to have a lot more difficulty talking to their kids about the discrimination that they may potentially face. This might lead parents to avoid having these discussions or not approach them in a way that will get their message across,” Christophe explained.

Parents should be starting to have these conversations earlier, because children are being exposed to racism at younger ages and don’t know what to do when their parents haven’t yet given them the skills, Christophe added.