As reported in Developmental Psychology, 84% of Black parents and 76% of white parents talked about Black Lives Matter (BLM) to their 8- to 11-year-old children. While 78% of Black parents affirmed Black lives and acknowledged systemic racism, only 35% of white parents reported similar messaging.
The study was prompted by the widespread calls in 2020 for national conversations on race that included children, as highlighted in a Sesame Street Town Hall. The researchers wanted to learn what parents were saying to their children during this sociopolitical moment of upheaval.
“Parents are experiencing the stresses and ‘us versus them’ divisions in society, but what are they telling their kids about this?” says coauthor Andrew Meltzoff, professor of psychology at the University of Washington and co-director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.
The researchers collected data for the study via online surveys between November 2020 and January 2021 from more than 700 socio-economically diverse parents of children aged 8-11. Study participants were evenly divided between Black and white parents. Respondents were asked whether they had spoken to their children about BLM, and, if so, were then asked what they had told their child. Open-ended question responses were then coded and categorized by the research team.
“While it is notable that many parents, including white parents, were talking with their children about Black Lives Matter, it is more important to consider what parents said,” says lead author Leoandra Onnie Rogers, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University and principal director of the DICE lab.
Rogers, who did her postdoctoral fellowship with Meltzoff at the University of Washington and later became a research assistant professor before being hired at Northwestern, says the responses showed not all “yes” responses were substantive, and importantly, the conversational approaches varied by race.
Black parents were more likely to acknowledge inequality—shown through responses like: “I talk with my son about the wrongful deaths of men and women of color at the hands of police”—and affirm Black lives with messages such as: “I try to remind him that he is important and worthy despite what the media tells us.”
White parents who gave substantive responses were more likely to communicate very general messages about equality without pointing to existing injustices, such as: “All lives matter no matter your skin color.”
The research team also noted a pattern of verbatim responses copied from the internet. This type of response was mostly used by white parents—14% vs. 1% of Black parents—who had answered the survey with apparent credibility but could not or did not actually report their own thoughts when talking about BLM. In fact, 27% of white parents provided uncodeable responses, which included nonsensical comments or content copied and pasted word-for-word from internet sources.
“Encouraging parents to talk about race, to break the silence, is necessary but insufficient,” Rogers says. “The upside is these data suggest that parents are listening to the societal conversation, and the concerted effort to engage parents and families in race talk did seem to influence the overall frequency of the reported conversations. However, the depth and substance of these conversations warrants further attention.”
“Parents wonder when it’s appropriate to talk with their children about race and what’s the most helpful thing to say,” says Meltzoff. “We looked at the strategies taken by hundreds of parents across the country. Parents can teach us a lot about how to have conversations about race—not only with children but among ourselves.”
Additional coauthors are from Tulane University, Wake Forest University, and Northwestern University.
Source: Lauren Kirschman for University of Washington
—
This post was previously published on Futurity with a Creative Commons License.
***
From The Good Men Project on Medium
What Does Being in Love and Loving Someone Really Mean? | My 9-Year-Old Accidentally Explained Why His Mom Divorced Me | The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex | The Internal Struggle Men Battle in Silence |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock