Vicarious racism and child outcomes: the moderating role of preparation for bias in Black American families

Racism experienced by caregivers can result in negative outcomes for their children as well. Black American caregivers may use ethnic racial socialization (ERS) to promote cultural pride and prepare children for discrimination (i.e., cultural socialization, preparation for bias). In this secondary data analysis, a community-recruited, low-income sample of 130 Black American caregivers reported on past-year experiences with racism, ERS practices, and their childs internalizing behaviors. A residualized change approach assessed whether caregivers racist experiences predicted a change in child internalizing behaviors across two time points. Each ERS strategy was examined as a moderator. Cultural socialization was not a significant protective factor as hypothesized. Meanwhile, there was a significant interaction between preparation for bias and caregivers racist experiences. The Johnson-Neyman technique indicated that caregivers past-year experiences with racism predicted an increase in child internalizing behaviors when caregivers were providing preparation for bias messages an average of once a year.