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Role of Racial Socialization in Relation to Parenting Practices and Youth Behavior: An Exploratory Analysis

NCJ Number
223798
Journal
Social Work in Mental Health Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 30-54
Author(s)
James Rodriguez Ph.D.; Mary M. McKay Ph.D., L.C.S.W.; William M. Bannon Jr., Ph.D
Date Published
2008
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article examines the role of racial socialization in African-American parenting.
Abstract
The findings indicate that certain types of racial socialization, particularly spirituality and religious coping, in conjunction with discipline effectiveness are related to child behavior problems. Specifically, among parents who felt they used more effective discipline strategies, moderate to high rates of spiritual and religious coping were associated with a reduction of child behavior problems. The findings support the hypothesis that racial socialization is an important aspect of parenting in African-American families that can be associated with the effective management of children’s behavior. The work also discusses implications for parenting interventions and future research, and states that racial socialization has received research attention because of evidence that it can be a protective developmental process in African-American families. The study explored the relationship of parental mental health, discipline effectiveness, monitoring, and racial socialization strategies on child externalizing behaviors. Data was obtained through a sample of 140 African-American parents or caregivers in a large midwestern city participating in a cross sectional study from 1997 to 2001. Tables, references