Black parents’ race-related experiences in their workplaces impact how they teach their adolescents about race and race relations

Racial discrimination – the unjust or prejudicial treatment of a person or a group of people based on racial group membership – is a harmful stressor on Black families and occurs across many contexts, including workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. Black parents try to lessen the negative effects of racial discrimination by communicating racial socialization messages through which they tell their children about their race, racial group membership (cultural socialization), and interracial interactions (preparation for bias). In this brief, PRC graduate student trainee Loraine Scott and PRC faculty scholar Fatima Varner test how the racial composition of Black families’ contexts interact with experiences of racial discrimination to shape parents’ racial socialization messages to their adolescents. They found that more personal experiences of racial discrimination and working with more Black people was associated with more cultural socialization messages. Adolescents’ and parents' experiences with racial discrimination were associated with more preparation for bias messages. In addition, parents with few Black co-workers gave more preparation for bias messages when they had more personal racial discrimination experiences. To lessen experiences of racial discrimination for Black workers and other workers from marginalized communities, the authors advocate for strengthening policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.