Familial Ethnic Socialization within Majority, Minority, and Multiracial Groups

As racial and ethnic diversity grows within the United States, so too does the need for understanding ethnic identity (EI) within social psychology. People develop EI through a process known as ethnic socialization (ES). In a family context, this is known as Familial Ethnic Socialization (FES). Ethnically socializing one’s own offspring is known as Parental Ethnic Socialization (PES). The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between EI, FES, and PES for those who are part of an ethnic majority group (MA), an ethnic minority group (MI), and those who consider themselves multiracial (MU). A total of 377 adults completed our online survey. Individuals in the MI and MU groups scored significantly higher on EI, FES, and PES than those in the MA group. Those in the MI group also scored higher on FES than the MU group; however, there was no statistically significant difference between MI and MU on EI and PES scores. The findings in this study show differences between EI, FES, and PES between the different ethnic groupings, as well as Introduce PES as an emerging construct in EI research