What we tell our sons and daughters: Parent -child race socialization among African American adolescents

Historically, research on racial identity and race socialization has utilized adult samples to explore and validate theory. As identity development has been touted as being the primary task of adolescence, the study of identity development during the teen years is paramount. Similarly, as youths receive the most influential messages about race from their parents during adolescence it represents an important life phase to examine both topics. Utilizing a sample of 250 African American 11–17 year-olds, and their primary care providers, the current project explores the relationship between race socialization messages and racial identity during the teen years. Using Hierarchical Statistical Modeling, the degree to which those messages perceived by adolescents are congruent with the messages that parents report sending is also explored. The current project makes a unique contribution to the existing racial identity and race socialization literatures by nestling these topics within the context of gender. Overall, findings support the investigation of racial identity and race socialization during the teen years, as they seem to create a unique context for both the identity and socialization processes. Findings also indicate that gender moderates the identity development, race socialization, and congruence processes, thus supporting their examination within the context of gender.