The Significance of Racial Identity in the Development of African American Children is a presentation I have done on how a strong sense of belonging to one's ethnic/racial group, an understanding of group history, and participation in group cultural activities contributes to positive child development in African American and Native American children.

1. The Significance of Racial Identity in the
development of African American and
Native American Children
SHAMECCA PERKINS
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
THE MINORITY FAMILY – PSYCH 4870, PROFESSOR MELVIN WILSON, PH.D.

2. Purpose:
The purpose of this research is to investigate racial and ethnic socialization of Native
American children and African American children, Furthermore, this research hopes to
find methods of racial and ethnic socialization and how it contributes racial and ethnic
identity among these two groups. The next step of the research is to determine how racial
or ethnic identity, whether strong or weak, contributes to the development of Native
American and African American children.
Relevance:
Minority parents often have an additional task when raising and socializing their children.
They must raise children that can survive and prosper in a society that devalues their
cultures. They must prepare them for the reality of racism and discrimination.

3. Research
 Focus minority groups:
 African American
 Native Americans
 Areas of Research:
 Historical contexts of each minority group
 Modern contexts of each minority group
 Racial and ethnic socialization research
 From where children are receiving socialization
 What ways socialization is being taught
 Content of racial socialization
 Contribution of racial socialization to racial/ethnic
identity
 Outcomes of strong or weak racial identity
 Implications of research
 Focus Articles:
 Measuring the Meaning of Black Stereotypes
and Their Relationship to the Racial Identity,
Black History Knowledge, and Racial
Socialization of African American Youth
Adams-Bass, Valerie N.; Stevenson, Howard C.;
Kotzin, Diana Slaughter (2014)
 The Relevance of Cultural Activities in Ethnic
Identity Among California Native American
Youth
Schweigman, Kurt; Soto, Claradina; Wright,
Serena; Unger, Jennifer (2011)

4. Measuring the Meaning of Black Stereotypes…
Background & Theories
 Cultivation theory: premised upon the assumption that television viewing is the
primary source of storytelling in American society.
 PVEST: contextual analysis of behavior by assessing vulnerability level, net stress,
reactive coping strategies, emergent identities, and life stage outcomes relative to
the experiences of African American youth
 Essential research questions:
I. Is it possible to develop a valid and reliable measure of adolescent perceptions of
positive and negative Black media images for television and magazines?
II. If developed, what relationship would these perceptions of Black media images have to
other aspects of youth identity development including R/ES exposure, racial identity
maturity, body image, self-esteem, and Black history knowledge scores?

5. Methods
 Black Media Messages Questionnaire (BMMQ)
 Black Image Meaning (BIMS)
 Black Media Messages Belief (BMMB)
 Black Television Message Exposure (BTME)
 Black Magazine Message Exposure (BMME)
 The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity –
teen (MIBI-t)
 Centrality (how persons define themselves in terms of
race)
 Public Regard
 Private Regard
 Ideology (humanist, oppressed minority, nationalist,
and assimilationist)
 Cultural and Racial Experiences of
Socialization (CARES)
 Alertness to Racism
 Bi-Cultural Coping
 Racial Legacy Knowledge
 Cultural Pride
 Internalized Racialism
 Stereotyping
 Black History Knowledge Questionnaire
(BHK)
 Sociocultural Attitudes Toward
Appearance Scale–3 (SATAQ-3)

6. Results
 Racial socialization and Black history knowledge influence television-viewing
preferences, hours of viewing and magazine reading and identification of racial
stereotypes
 Youth who receive affirming racial socialization messages seem more able to
identify negative and positive stereotypes
 Youth with higher Black history knowledge scores were also more likely to identify
stereotypes, but not to endorse negative stereotypes as valid representations of
Black people.

7. The Relevance of Cultural Activities in Ethnic
Identity Among California Native American
Youth
Purpose:
 analyzed data from a large statewide sample of Native
American adolescents throughout California to determine
whether participation in cultural practices was associated with
stronger ethnic identity
 examined whether the association between participation in
cultural practices was consistent across genders and between
adolescents who lived in urban areas or those who lived on
reservations.
Background:
 elevated rates of binge drinking, number of drinks monthly,
and riding in a vehicle with a drinking driver when compared
to non-Hispanic Whites (CTEC 2009).
It is widely believed that cultural interventions and the ability to
integrate cultural knowledge are vital in alleviating social and
health problems
Cultural Practices
 Pow-wows
 The sweat lodge ceremony
 Roundhouse

8. Methods
 945 participants, ages 13-19 were included in the analyses (529 were female and
416 male).
 Ethnic identity was assessed using the 12-item Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
(MEIM).
 Participants were asked if they had ever participated in pow-wows, a sweat lodge,
a drum groups, and/or roundhouse. Answer options were “yes” or “no.”
 Must live in urban area or on a reservation:
 “Where do you live most of the time?”  “on a reservation” and “not on a reservation.”
 self-reported zip codes (population > 1,000 is urban)

9. Results
 Respondents who participated in cultural activities reported significantly higher
Native American ethnic identity than their counterparts who did not take part in
cultural activities. (only significant among urban youth and not among reservation
youth)
 Higher grades in school were associated with ethnic identity among females but
not among males.
Findings from this study show a strong association between cultural activities and
traditional practices with tribal enculturation among Native American youth in
California.

10. Discussion Questions
1. A. How has black media representations evolved since “black face”? What are some improvements in how
African-Americans are portrayed and what are some of the ways that negative stereotypes of African Americans
persist in the media?
B. How has the increased presence of black entertainers, black writers and producers, and black leading roles affected
the overall portrayal of African Americans in the media and the racial identity of African Americans?
(Contemporary shows like Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Black-ish, Tyler Perry Productions; Reality TV shows
like Love and Hip Hop; Traditional black sitcoms like Fresh Prince and the Cosby Show)
2. What are possible ways in which media representations of Native Americans affects the connection youth have
with the Native American community and their participation in cultural traditions?

11. Discussion Questions
The study of Black Media Representations concluded that students with a better knowledge of black history were more
likely to identify stereotypes, but not to endorse negative stereotypes as valid representations of Black people. Similarly,
Native American youth that had a stronger understanding of their own culture and participated in traditions had a
stronger ethnic identities, which acts as a resilience factor against media stereotypes. The common theme is a strong
racial identity.
3. How can we use this knowledge to implement public policies and programs to improve the development of
children in there minority groups?
4. What are your opinions on adding minority history lessons as part of elementary and middle school curriculum?
(Non-Eurocentric lessons) What are the benefits and consequences? Can European American children better
acknowledge and identify stereotypes with better historical knowledge of each group?
5. What are possible future research problems that could build onto these studies?