Self -regulation in the classroom and beyond: The roles of parenting practices, racial socialization, and racial identity in African American youth.

This study explored the roles of parenting styles, racial socialization, and racial identity on self-regulatory outcomes in a sample of 134 African American youth (ages 10-15) from two public middle schools and a public summer camp in a Midwestern city. The outcomes of interest were self-control, persistence, regulation of positive emotions in the classroom, and regulation of school motivation behaviors. Youth reported on their parents' authoritative and disciplinarian practices as well as their own attitudes toward their racial group (private regard) and the overall importance of race to their self-concept (centrality). Youth also reported parent messages that encouraged their individual worth (self-worth), pride in being African American (racial pride), and barriers they would face because of racism (racial barriers). It was expected that racial messages would be positively related to self-regulatory outcomes for youth whose parent used more authoritative practices. Additionally, racial barrier messages were expected to be positively associated with self-regulation for youth who had positive racial identity beliefs. The hypotheses were partially supported. Racial barrier socialization was positively associated with emotional school regulation when youth perceived their parent to be highly authoritative. However, racial barrier socialization was negatively related to emotional school regulation when youth perceived their parent to be less authoritative. Private regard emerged as a moderator between self-worth and several of the outcomes (self-control, persistence, and emotional regulation). For example, self-worth socialization was positively related to self-control for youth who had positive perceptions about being Black. However, self-worth socialization was negatively related to selfcontrol for youth who adopted less positive beliefs about being Black. A similar pattern of results emerged for the role of centrality as a moderator of the association between self-worth messages and self-control. Overall, the findings suggest that racial socialization plays an important role in preparing youth to brave a racially unjust society. Future research that examines the influence of racial socialization on youth outcomes should account for the influence of the child's perception of their parents' practices, and the racial beliefs of the child.Ph.D.Black studiesDevelopmental psychologyPersonality psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126561/2/3253405.pd