Oct 30 Flashcards
what’s ethnic racial socialization? according to Umana-Taylor & Hill
Ethnic-racial socialization is a MULTIFACETED CONSTRUCT
that captures how FAMILIES SOCIALIZE YOUTH
regarding the VALUES, TRADITIONS, PRACTICES associated with their ethnic-racial group
also includes families’ efforts to teach youth about POTENTIAL ETHNICITY and RACE-BASED THREATS
and how to COPE with these experiences
ERS - why ‘ethnic-racial’?
similar to explanation for ERI
not yet a satisfying solution for unambiguously distinguishing socialization that is racial from that which is ethnic
or for determining when one term should be used rather than the other
we use the COMBINED TERM ethnic-racial socialization when referring to the broader research literature
and focus on OTHER DEFINITIONAL and CONCEPTUAL ISSUES that we regard as more important
racial socialization
usually discussed around how Black parents maintain children’s high SELF-ESTEEM
and PREPARE THEM to understand racial barriers
in the face of racial/social stratification in NA
ethnic socialization
usually discussed around experiences of Latino, Asian, and (less often) African and Caribbean groups in NA
how parents help kids:
1. maintain CULTURE of origin
2. promote ethnic IDENTITY
3. resist ASSIMILATION pressures
ERS is a multidimensional construct - in the EARLY DAYS
early days of racial and ethnic socialization messages…
- NO STANDARDIZATION of terms
- diff scholars each had their OWN NAMES for the same types of messages
- some didn’t talk about certain messages at all, while others did
ERS is a multidimensional construct - in 2006…
in 2006, Diane Hughes and colleagues came out with a paper that STANDARDIZED the ERS terminology
highlighted 4 main types of messages
- cultural socialization
- prep for bias
- promotion of mistrust
- egalitarian messages
cultural socialization
one of Hughes’ 2006 dimensions of ERS
parental practice that:
- teaches about HERITAGE/HISTORY
- promotes cultural CUSTOMS/TRADITIONS
- promotes, cultural, ethnic, racial PRIDE
most common type of ERS that parents give - they are happy to share positive/unique aspects of their culture
examples of cultural socialization
learning about historical figures
exposure to books, art, artifacts, food, music, stories, holidays, teaching language
two types of cultural socialization
covert vs overt
covert: INDIRECT, less obvious
ie. going to hair salon or place of worship with group members, ethnic food exposure
covert cultural socialization
INDIRECT, less obvious
ie. going to hair salon or place of worship with group members, ethnic food exposure
overt cultural socialization
direct
sitting kids down and saying this is who you are, this is what’s important to our group
prep for bias
one of Hughes’ 2006 dimensions of ERS
parents’ efforts to promote children’s AWARENESS OF DISC and prepare them to COPE with it
not mentioned as frequently in interviews with parents
age diffs: prep for bias increases as kids get older
2 types of prep for bias
REACTIVE (after disc occurs)
PROACTIVE (before disc occurs)
prep for bias is most prevalent among…
Black families
quotes: proactive prep for bias
“we Chinese work like cows and are laughed at by many people. Of course, that doesn’t make me feel good. I always ask him to study hard…study hard and get a good job and don’t let others look down upon you”
“I been tellin’ my kids things when they was in my stomach…they know how to present themselves and all this and that. and not let things get to them. you know, somebody call you an n-word, “well, I’m a beautiful n-word.” you know? I’m not gonna let them, you know, get it out of focus.”
quotes: reactive prep for bias
“I told him it wasn’t so much that he was different, you know. You are the new kid in the school and they were friends since kindergarten.”
proactive prep for bias
PROACTIVE (before disc occurs)
a) caution against internalization
b) racial pride, proper demeanour, hard work to overcome
reactive prep for bias
a) enabling teens to cope with emotional aftermath
b) encourage to ignore event - brush it off, kids are just silly
c) downplaying racial/ethnic origins - ie. everyone gets called names
aside on delaying prep for bias messaging
even in early childhood, children’s understandings of race/ethnicity is MORE COMPLICATED than they communicate
- preferences for same race faces = 3 months
- face categorization based on race = 9 months
- associating people of colour with negative traits = 36 months
- associating white people with high status (wealth, power, etc) = 47 months
when does preference for same race face emerge?
3 months
face categorization based on race emerges when?
9 months
associating people of colour with negative traits occurs when?
36 months
associating white people with high status occurs when?
47 months
what percentage of parents underestimate when children develop racialized prefs/internalized beliefs about inequality?
95%
average parent underestimates when these things happen by ~4.5 years
strongest predictor of delaying conversations about race
underestimation of child racial awareness
prep for bias in immigrant families
immigrant parents report lower frequency of prep for bias
qualitative study of prep for bias in immigrant families
qualitative study
Indian immigrant parents
- parents reported not wanting to “put discrimination in the children’s brain”
- parents stated that they think children are less likely to face discrimination because they were BORN in the US
qualitative study of prep for bias in immigrant families: deeper dive
(recap: parents stated that they think children are less likely to face disc because they’re born in the US and they don’t want to “put disc into the children’s brain” so they don’t talk about it)
“as such, coping skills offered by parents to children centered on advice to “ignore it”. “avoid what they said”, or “laugh it off” in the event of a discriminatory experience. for example, a parent reported, “they [American parents] teach them, just “No, you have to stand up for yourself, fight with them.” That’s how they teach. And then ours is “OH, THAT’S OKAY, LET IT GO, LET IT GO”
almost all of the parents agreed that they preferred to not talk about racism or discrimination with their children as such discussions would, ultimately, be harmful to their children by having them expect discrimination. for example, one parent reported, “no, we never wanted to put it into their brain that, “Oh, because you’re an Indian, you’ll be treated differently in school.” because, if they think, start thinking that, they would start having more issues, I think”
finishing Dr Rich Lee’s TEDx talk
why’s it so hard for families to talk about race?
we lack RACIAL LITERACY - a way to talk about racism
it’s uncomfortable and therefore avoided
need RADICAL CHANGE - sharing stories and learning from them
Dr Rich Lee - how do we develop racial literacy?
when parents see/hear racist behaviours, they need to break the silence
talking about racism demystifies it
makes it less fearsome and more addressable
should be part of daily convos, not only when bad things happen
parents should expand their kids vocabs when talking about these issues
Dr Rich Lee - youth whose parents prepared teens for racism/disc…
reported fewer bad mental health outcomes when they encountered disc as adults
talking about it early on helps later on
what we do and say now makes a diff years later
children are left on their own if parents don’t make sense of it
by adolescence, many teens think their parents simply can’t handle it
but ironically, many parents are waiting for teens to bring it up
silence compromises health and wellness
parents often don’t realize how confused, unsure and uncomfortable racism/disc events make their kids feel
Dr Rich Lee - “King’s English” comment
older parent generation experienced disc daily and couldn’t do much about it
they put their heads down and worked hard and rarely complained
but new gen has the “King’s English” on their tongue
they are better able to fight and speak, for themselves and for their parents too
promotion of mistrust socialization
one of Hughes’ 2006 dimensions of ERS
- parental practices that encourage WARINESS or DISTRUST of interracial interactions
- barriers to success
- less prevalent in studies
- less than 10% of participants - not in many transcripts
- aside or jokes - not purposeful
egalitarian messages
one of Hughes’ 2006 dimensions of ERS
“we are all human”
parental practices that either:
- explicitly encourage children to value INDIVIDUAL qualities above racial/ethnic group membership
- AVOID MENTION of race/ethnicity/culture
orientation to mainstream culture
focus on developing skills in children
2 types of egalitarian messages
- colour evasive
- cultural pluralism
egalitarian messages: interview examples, specific messages about egalitarianism
“we talk to her about evolution…the differences first of all they are very recent differences and second of all they’re pretty close to meaningless”
“these differences that we make a huge deal about are nothing, they’re just nothing”
reviewing ERS > adjustment outcomes - Umana-Taylor & Hill SETUP
explosion of research on ERs in 2010s
so, authors wanted to REVIEW ALL PARENTAL ERS ARTICLES published in the 2010s
259 total studies reviewed
reviewing ERS > adjustment outcomes - Umana-Taylor & Hill TRENDS
3 key trends
- of the 259 studies, only 9 of them were with populations outside the US
- mostly looked at adolescent samples (13-18 years old)
- most research looks at cultural socialization as opposed to the other 3 aspects of ERS
Umana-Taylor & Hill review - summary of effects for cultural socialization
cultural socializtion
70% of studies found PROMOTIVE/PROTECTIVE effects
4% found RISK
Umana-Taylor & Hill review - summary of effects for prep for bias
prep for bias
33% of studies reported NULL FINDINGS
9% found MIXED FINDINGS
26% found PROMOTIVE/PROTECTIVE effects
15% found RISK