About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 17. Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Paper #1
Emotion and Racial Socialization as Moderators of Parental Racial Trauma and Preschoolers’ Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors
Author information	Role
Jill Smokoski, Stony Brook University, United States	Presenting author
Daneele Thorpe, Stony Brook University, United States	Non-presenting author
Kristin Bernard, Stony Brook University, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction Racism in the United States threatens the well-being of Black families, as Black parents must cope with their own exposure to racism while supporting their children’s ability to thrive in this context (Berger & Sarnyai, 2014, Caughy et al., 2004). Research suggests that parents’ socialization practices may serve to protect children from the harmful effects of racism on their socioemotional health (Hughes et al., 2006). These practices may be particularly important in early childhood when children are still reliant on their parents as co-regulators of their emotional experiences. However, parents who experience symptoms of racial trauma as a result of their own exposure to racism may have more difficulty engaging in protective parenting practices. The present study examined whether parents’ racial trauma symptoms were associated with their young children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors and whether these associations were moderated by emotion and racial socialization. Methods Participants included 168 Black/African American parents (M = 34.03 years, SD = 6.63) of young children (M = 4.08 years, SD = .87). Parents completed assessments of racial trauma (measured using the Racial Trauma Scale-Short Form; Williams et al., 2022), emotion socialization practices (measured using the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale; Fabes, 1990), racial socialization practices (measured using the Parental Racial Socialization Scale; Hughes & Johnson, 2006; Pahlke et al., 2012), and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors (measured using the Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Results Parents’ racial trauma was positively associated with children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior. Parents’ emotion socialization moderated the association between parents’ racial trauma and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Specifically, greater racial trauma was associated with more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems at lower levels of supportive and higher levels of unsupportive responses to distress. Racial socialization moderated the association between racial trauma and internalizing, but not externalizing, behaviors. Specifically, greater racial trauma was associated with more internalizing problems at higher levels of racial socialization. We conducted exploratory analyses to examine which types of racial socialization practices were driving this moderation effect. Exploratory analyses revealed that greater racial trauma was associated with more internalizing behaviors when parents reported more frequent use of racial socialization practices that reflect the promotion of mistrust and preparation for discrimination, specifically. Discussion These findings add important nuance to our understanding of the role of parenting practices in protecting children from the intergenerational effects of racism. Parents’ supportive emotion socialization may buffer the negative impact of parents’ racial trauma on their young children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Furthermore, results suggest that some types of racial socialization messages, specifically messages that emphasize mistrust of others and preparation for discrimination, may not be developmentally appropriate for preschool-aged children. These results suggest that early childhood interventions for Black families should prioritize promotion of positive emotion socialization and underscore the importance of tailoring racial socialization practices to children’s developmental stage.

Paper #2
Initial Development of an Observed Measure of Racial Emotion Socialization
Author information	Role
Dr. Angel Sia Dunbar, Ph.D., University of Maryland, United States	Presenting author
Abstract
Introduction: The bulk of research on emotion and racial socialization relies on questionnaire data. Findings based on questionnaire data are mixed regarding the benefits of discussing racism with young children with some studies finding that parents’ discussions about racism with young children relate to greater internalizing (e.g., withdrawal, depressive symptoms) and externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, conduct problems) (Osborne et al., 2020). Scholars propose that whether discussions about race are effective depends largely on whether parents attend to children’s emotions and model for children how to understand, express, and regulate their emotions (Dunbar et al., 2017, Lozada et al., 2022).Thus, the long-term goal of this measure development is to elucidate the conditions under which parental discussions and messages about racism (i.e., racial socialization) reduce children’s reactivity and promote regulation in response to racism stimuli. Methods: Study participants were 94 parent-child dyads (ages 6-8; 84% mothers, 62% girls) who participated in a quasi-experimental baseline-stimuli-recovery paradigm. Two stimuli trials involved participants watching a video of a young Martin Luther King Jr. being rejected by his White peers and a video of a young Ruby Bridges walking into her integrated school for the first time as she faces shouts from angry White protestors. Each video was followed by a 5-minute discussion period in which participants were instructed to discuss the video as they normally would if they were to watch the video at home. Both trials were videotaped, and audio recorded. Results and Implications: Three dimensions emerged from the seminal emotion socialization frameworks (Eisenberg et al., 1996; Gottman et al., 1997) plus a fourth dimension. Parent expressive encouragement involves the extent to which the parent asks the child how the video made them feel and asks the child to elaborate on their emotions. Family expressivity captures the extent to which the parent and the child separately and jointly express their positive (e.g., happy, prideful, joyful), negative submissive (e.g., sad, anxious, fearful, embarrassment), and negative dominant emotions (e.g., angry, frustrated, disgusted), and separately, confusion, shock/surprised, and feeling neutral. This code captures the child’s (and parent’s) spontaneous expression of emotions throughout the interaction. Teaching/discussion of emotions captures the extent to which the parent explains something about an emotion concept or emotion regulation (e.g., why the emotion may have occurred, what it means to feel a certain emotion, the distinction between discrete emotions, emotion regulation strategies). This dimension was also coded by type of emotion. Finally, socialization/expression of empathy captures attempts by the parent to get the child to put themselves in the shoes of the character, the child’s expression of empathy following prompting by the parent, and the child’s spontaneous expression of empathy. ICC scores on all dimensions ranged from .77 to .93. Implications for how this measure will advance current knowledge about how Black parents promote adaptive emotion understanding and regulation in response to racial bias exposure will be discussed.

Paper #3
A Retrospective Examination of Mental Health and Emotion Socialization Practices among Black Families
Author information	Role
Ariana Rivens, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States	Presenting author
Seanna Leath, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, United States	Non-presenting author
Janelle Billingsley, PhD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, United States	Non-presenting author
Maxine Deveaux, BA, Postbaccalaureate Scholar, United States	Non-presenting author
Julianna Panton, BA, University of Maryland, United States	Non-presenting author
Latrece Walker, BA, Washington University of St. Louis, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction. Black parents in the United States engage in socialization practices that inform the development of their children’s socioemotional well-being (Labella, 2020; Lozada et al., 2022). Black parents’ mental health socialization practices in particular may play an influential role on the ways Black children cope with psychological distress, conceptualize mental health and illness, and use professional mental health services (Ford et al., 2016). Despite the growing rates of suicide among Black adolescents and young adults (Stone et al., 2023), there are few studies that specifically investigate mental health socialization and how it naturally occurs between Black parents and their children during childhood. In light of this gap, we sought to explore mental health socialization in Black families. Given mental health socialization practices may overlap with Black parents’ emotional and racial-ethnic socialization practices, the current study was guided by the Integrated Model of Racial and Emotional Socialization (Dunbar et al., 2017) and tenets of Relational Communication Theory as it has been applied to Black families (Rogers, 2006; Smith-Bynum, 2023). Population. The sample consisted of 47 Black undergraduate men and women (Mage = 20.1 years) drawn from a larger study of Black college students’ collegiate experiences and mental health. Over half of the participants attended a public, selective Southeastern institution (n = 26), while the rest attended a public, Midwestern minority- and Hispanic serving institution (n =21). Participants identified as African American (n = 28), African (n = 12), Afro-Caribbean (n = 3), Biracial (n = 3), and Afro-Latino (n = 1). Participants completed individual, semi-structured virtual interviews in Spring and Summer 2020. Methods. Participants were asked to retrospectively describe if and how their families discussed facets of mental health (e.g., coping with experiences of distress) during childhood. We coded and analyzed the data using tenets of Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methods (Hill et al., 2005), including iterative dialogue, group consensus for thematic categories, discussions of researcher positionality, and external reliability checks via an auditor. Results. The majority of participants (n = 40; 75%) did not recall explicit examples of mental health socialization, though most (n = 35; 74%) reported instances where their parents suggested ways to cope with distressing emotions (e.g., engaging in religious activities and relying on familial bonds). Some participants (n = 12; 25%) described occasions where their parents communicated mental health stigma or practiced emotion suppression techniques (e.g., trivialization of their concerns; n = 7; 15%).Participants also noted how contextual influences like religious and ethnic identities, life circumstances, past experiences with mental illness, and mental health literacy informed the mental health socialization they received. Conclusions and Implications: Our study contributes to literature examining the nature of everyday mental health conversations among Black families. Furthermore, we provide insight into Black youths’ evaluations of these discussions and how they use them to develop their own perspectives on mental health and treatment-seeking in emerging adulthood. Future directions for research focused on mental health socialization practices among Black families and implications for practitioners seeking to support Black parents will be discussed.

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