Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to test whether parenting profiles based on racial socialization and involved-vigilant parenting would compensate for or moderate associations between racial discrimination experiences and academic outcomes and psychological well-being among African American adolescents. Method: Participants were 1,363 African American adolescents (Mage = 14.19; 52.3% female) from 3 Midwestern suburban school districts. Latent profile analysis was used to examine whether there were distinct combinations of parenting. The relationships among racial discrimination experiences, parenting profiles, and adjustment were examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: Three distinct parenting profiles were found: moderate positive (n = 767; moderately high involved-vigilant parenting and racial barrier, racial pride, behavioral, and egalitarian messages, and low negative messages), unengaged (n = 351; low racial socialization messages and moderately low involved-vigilant parenting), and high negative parenting (n = 242; high negative messages, moderate other racial socialization messages, and moderately low involved-vigilant parenting). Racial discrimination experiences were negatively associated with youth adjustment. Moderate positive parenting was related to the best academic outcomes and unengaged parenting was associated with more positive academic outcomes than high negative parenting. Moderate positive parenting was associated with better psychological well-being than unengaged or high negative parenting although the benefits were greater for adolescents with fewer racial discrimination experiences. Conclusions: Distinct patterns of racial socialization messages and involved-vigilant parenting contribute to differences in African American youth adjustment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 173-186 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 American Psychological Association.
Funding
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant 0820309) and by Grant R24HD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Science Foundation or the National Institutes of Health. We thank the youth for participating in this study and the schools for their support.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | R24HD042849, 0820309 |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | P2CHD042849 |
| University of Texas at Austin | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | |
| Columbia Population Research Center |
Keywords
- Academics
- African American adolescents
- Parenting
- Psychological well-being
- Racial discrimination
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
