Racial Socialization in the United States.

Our review, situated within the context of the United States, explores how societal forces shape youths' racial socialization processes. Specifically, we explore how youths learn beliefs about race through interactions with their environment, how these processes affect youths' engagement with race in multiple contexts, and how they contribute to the perpetuation and dismantling of racial inequality. First, we discuss key psychological theories that inform our understanding of racial socialization.

White parents' racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children's pro-white biases.

Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence.

Racial Socialization Messages in White Parents' Discussions of Current Events Involving Racism With Their Adolescents.

This study presents a thematic analysis of socialization messages about race and racism in White parents' reports of their discussions with adolescents about current events involving racism (e.g., police brutality toward Black Americans).

Applying the Evidence We Have: Support for Having Race Conversations in White U.S. Families.

Popular press articles have advocated for parent-child conversations about race and racism to prevent children from developing racial biases, yet empirical investigations of the impact of racial socialization in White U.S. families are scarce.

Socialization of racial ideology by White parents.

The ways that White American parents socialize their children to think about and interact with racial out-groups are not well understood. The goals of this study were to explore the degree to which White parents endorse contradictory racial ideologies, and the reasons behind the presence versus absence of parent-child discussions of race-related current events (e.g.

The Longitudinal Impact of Screen Time on Adolescent Development: Moderation by Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia.

Purpose: To date, little is known about underlying psychophysiological contributions to the impact of media content and overall screen time on adolescent psychological functioning. In the present study we examine respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a moderator of the link between specific types of media content use, overall media exposure, and the development of internalizing and aggressive symptoms in youth.

Methods: A sample of 374 adolescents (mean age = 15) reported on their media use, internalizing behavior, and aggressive behavior at time 1 (2011) and 1-year follow-up (2012).

Parasympathetic and sympathetic reactivity moderate maternal contributions to emotional adjustment in adolescence.

A burgeoning literature supports the role of autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning as an index of physiologic sensitivity to the environment, but extant research is limited in its focus on single branches of the ANS, childhood samples, and solely negative environmental factors. This study seeks to address these limitations by exploring whether reactivity in the parasympathetic (PNS) and sympathetic (SNS) nervous systems jointly moderate the prospective contributions of both positive (maternal involvement) and negative (maternal psychological control) aspects of the family environment to developmentally relevant outcomes in adolescence (depressive symptoms and emotion regulation). At Wave 1, adolescents (n = 352, 52% female, M age = 15.

Socialization of coping in a predominantly female sample of caregivers: Contributions to children's social adjustment in middle childhood.

This study applied a short-term longitudinal design to examine whether socialization of coping, observed in real time, predicted social adjustment (i.e., friendship quality and social problems) in middle childhood.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a predictor of eating disorder symptoms in college students: Moderation by responses to stress and parent psychological control.

This longitudinal study examined the prospective contribution of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a key physiological indicator of self-regulation, to eating disorder symptoms in college students, and whether this link was moderated by maladaptive responses to stress and parent psychological control. At Wave 1, college students' RSA was measured at rest. At Waves 1 and 2 (six-month follow-up), students reported on their eating disorder symptoms, coping and involuntary responses to stress, and perceptions of their parents' use of psychological control.

Skin Conductance Level Reactivity Moderates the Association Between Parental Psychological Control and Relational Aggression in Emerging Adulthood.

When studying factors that may heighten risk for relational aggression in youth, it is important to consider characteristics of both the individual and their environment. This research examined the associations between parental psychological control and reactive and proactive relational aggression in emerging adults in college. Given that sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation may underlie differences between reactive and proactive aggression and has been shown to moderate the effects of parenting on youth development, the moderating role of SNS reactivity [indexed by skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR)] was also examined.

Relational victimization and proactive versus reactive relational aggression: The moderating effects of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and skin conductance.

This research examined the moderating effect of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) on the associations between relational victimization and reactive and proactive relational aggression. Both branches of the ANS, the parasympathetic nervous system (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity; RSA-Reactivity) and the sympathetic nervous system (indexed by skin conductance level reactivity; SCL-Reactivity), were examined. Emerging adults (N = 168) self-reported on relational victimization and proactive and reactive relational aggression; RSA-Reactivity and SCL-Reactivity were assessed in response to a laboratory stressor.

Contributions of Socialization of Coping to Physiological Responses to Stress.

The messages mothers communicate to their children about coping may play an important role in children's emotional development by shaping children's responses to stress. Building on prior research demonstrating associations between maternal socialization of coping (SOC) and children's self-reported coping and emotional functioning (Abaied & Rudolph, 2010; 2011), we examined the contribution of SOC to children's physiological responses to stress. Mothers completed a measure of SOC with peer victimization.

Contributions of maternal emotional functioning to socialization of coping.

This study examined whether maternal emotional functioning-emotional awareness and depression-guides the coping suggestions mothers make to their children in the context of a common childhood stressor (peer victimization). Across two waves of a longitudinal study, 330 mothers and their second graders (mean age () = 7.95 years, = .

Maternal influences on youth responses to peer stress.

Understanding how youths develop particular styles of responding to stress is critical for promoting effective coping. This research examined the prospective, interactive contribution of maternal socialization of coping and peer stress to youth responses to peer stress. A sample of 144 early adolescents (mean age = 12.

Contributions of Maternal Adult Attachment to Socialization of Coping.

This research examined whether maternal adult attachment predicted the coping suggestions mothers made to their children. A sample of 157 youth (M age = 12.42, SD = 1.

Developing relationships, being cool, and not looking like a loser: social goal orientation predicts children's responses to peer aggression.

This research explored the contribution of social goal orientation, specifically, development (improving social skills and relationships), demonstration-approach (gaining positive judgments), and demonstration-avoidance (minimizing negative judgments). Children (N = 373; M age = 7.97, SD = .

Developing Relationships, Being Cool, and Not Looking Like a Loser: Social Goal Orientation Predicts Children's Responses to Peer Aggression.

Little is known about individual differences in how children respond to peer aggression. This research explored the contribution of social goal orientation, specifically development goals (improving social skills and relationships), demonstration-approach goals (gaining positive judgments), and demonstration-avoidance goals (minimizing negative judgments). Children (M age = 7.

Why is past depression the best predictor of future depression? Stress generation as a mechanism of depression continuity in girls.

This study examined whether a transactional interpersonal life stress model helps to explain the continuity in depression over time in girls. Youth (86 girls, 81 boys; M age = 12.41, SD = 1.

Mothers as a resource in times of stress: interactive contributions of socialization of coping and stress to youth psychopathology.

This study examined the hypothesis that maternal socialization of coping would make a differential contribution to youth depression and externalizing psychopathology depending on youths' level of exposure to life stress. A sample of 155 youth (M age = 12.41, SD = 1.