Say it loud-i'm black and I'm Proud: Parents' messages about race, racial discrimination, and academic achievement in african american boys

Abstract

This study uses two waves of data to examine the relationships among racial socialization, racial discrimination, and academic achievement outcomes in a sample of 144 African American male adolescents. Using latent class analyses, the authors identified four patterns of adolescent-reported racial socialization experiences: Positive Socialization, Moderate Negative, Self-Worth, and Low Frequency. Discrimination experiences were associated with subsequent academic performance. Wave 1 racial socialization experiences were associated with academic persistence and performance at Wave 2. These findings suggest that various patterns of racial socialization practices have the potential to improve educational outcomes for African American boys, particularly in the context of their experiences with racial discrimination. Recent educational research paints a grim picture for the academic success of African American boys (Edney, 2004; Solberg, Carlstrom, & Jones, 2007; Valentine, 2005). For instance, less than half of African American males who start high school finish (Lewin, 2006). Other research documents that African American boys, as a whole, are more prone to school failure and negative academic achievement outcomes than European and Asian American boys as well as African American girls (Honora, 2002). One area that has consistently been implicated in attempts to account for the patterns of educational underachievement among African American males has been institutional and societal- level racism (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Steele, 1997). Conceptual work in this area has focused on the psychological impact of American society's history of racial inequality with regard to educational opportunity, as well as stereotypes about the intellectual acumen of African Americans as a prominent determinant of African American youths' poorer educational outcomes. Recent research has illuminated the deleterious impact that personal experiences of racial discrimination can have on African American youths' academic attitudes and performance (Neblett, Philip, Cogburn, & Sellers, 2006; Smalls, White, Chavous, & Sellers, 2007; Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003), particularly for African American males (Chavous, Rivas-Drake, Smalls, Griffin, & Cogburn, 2008). With the growing recognition that parenting behaviors and family socialization play an influential role in African American youth adjustment (Brown, Linver, Evans, & DeGennaro, 2009; Stewart, 2007), a small but growing number of studies has begun to examine parental racial socialization as a potentially important influence on youth academic achievement (Brown et al., 2009; Huynh & Fuligni, 2008; Neblett et al., 2006). These studies share the premise that parental racial socialization-the process by which parents teach their children about the significance and meaning of race-is a particularly important process to consider for ethnic minority adolescent developmental outcomes given the increased salience of race during adolescence (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Garcia Coll et al., 1996). According to these studies and other theoretical work (e.g., Hughes et al., 2006), parents' messages about race may counteract negative racism experiences, influence academic motivation, and lead to increased academic performance. The present study sought to extend this developing body of research by using person-centered analyses with longitudinal data to examine the relationships among racial socialization practices, racial discrimination experiences, and subsequent academic achievement outcomes within an African American male adolescent sample. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH A small, but growing number of studies provide evidence that racial discrimination acts as a risk factor for multiple academic outcomes (Chavous et al., 2008; Smalls et al., 2007; Wong et al., 2003). From a psychological perspective, experiencing racial m'scrimination may cause youth to be more vulnerable to stereotype-threat processes (e. …