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Abstract
Developmental science research on parenting behaviors has long used white norms to define supportive parenting practices. Research that does focus on the developmental influences and trajectories of Black youth have largely used low-income households as representatives. These deficiencies in the literature have fueled a debate about whether cultural or socioeconomical contexts influence Black American parenting more. The current study took a unique approach to understanding Black mother parenting practices by using an observational measure of a cultural grounded parenting approach, Active Direction, and assessed the prevalence of use in an socioeconomically diverse sample of Black families using play interactions between mothers and their children. Findings indicated that mothers at all levels of household income, educational attainment, and single versus dual parent status used Active Direction in comparable amounts. Additionally, correlational analyses showed that there were differences in how mothers used Active Direction in conjunction with other qualities of the interaction, indicating that SES may inform how Active Direction is used. Finally, maternal educational attainment and dual parent status accounted for more variance than when household income was included in modeling. Overall, there is evidence that Active Direction is a culturally grounded approach to parenting, and that it acts alongside other supportive parenting practices within families with lower SES indicators.