The Comprehensive Race Socialization Inventory

Abstract

This pilot study introduces the comprehensive race socialization inventory (CRSI), an amalgam and extension of existing inventories that systematically captures the race socialization process within Black families. Using survey data collected in 2000 and 2001 from a convenience sample of Black adolescents ( n= 18) and a random sample of Black college students ( n= 225), the authors compare data yielded from the CRSI with data yielded from existing inventories of race socialization. The authors find that CRSI components such as (a) onset and recency, (b) the most useful message, (c) multiple sources, (d) anticipatory socialization messages, and (e) socializing behaviors are absent from existing race socialization inventories. Because the CRSI captures these critical components of the race socialization process, the authors argue that it is an improvement over existing inventories. The authors report measures of central tendency and dispersion to demonstrate the utility of the CRSI and also discuss its reliability and validity.