10.1177/0095798405278453JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2005Stevenson et al. / NEIGHBOR OD AND RACIAL SOCIALIZATION Influence of Perceived Neighborhood Diversity and Racism Experience on the Racial Socialization of Black Youth

Research on ecological factors that influence the experience of racial socializa-tion by African American adolescents is limited but necessary in understanding how youth come to be exposed to these messages. This study examines how the cultural diversity of an adolescent’s neighborhoodand his or her experience with racism moderates the frequency of experiencing protective and proactive racial socialization communications received from their families. Results reveal that boys are more likely than girls to receive coping with antagonism and cultural pride communications in high culturally diverse neighborhoods when they’ve had a personal experience with racism. Conversely, girls from low culturally di-verse neighborhoods, predominantly Black, report receiving more cultural pride messages from family if they had a personal experience with racism. The moder-ating effects of neighborhood cultural diversity and racism on the racial socialization of Black youth are discussed