Racial Attitude Development among Young Black Children as a Function of Parental Attitudes: A Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

BRANCH, CURTIS W., and NEWCOMBE, NORA. Racial Attitude Development among Young Black Children as a Function of Parental Attitudes: A Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 712-721. Racial attitudes were assessed in black children at 2 ages: 4-5 and 6-7 years old. Some children were followed longitudinally. Measurement was through the Clark Doll Test, Preschool Racial Attitude Measure II (PRAM II), a multiple-choice doll technique, and an interview. Parental attitudes were measured by the Black Ethnocentrism Scale (BES), the Black Parental Attitude Scale (BPA), and an interview. The older children were significantly more pro-black and anti-white than the younger children on the multiple-choice doll test; the same was true for boys on the Clark Doll Test. No significant age differences, however, were found on PRAM II. Parents' racial attitudes and attitudes about teaching their children about race varied with the age and sex of the child, and 1versus 2-parent family type; although not all effects were found on all measures, girls from one-parent families seemed to receive less pro-black socialization. Parental and child attitudes were found to be related, most clearly in the case of the interview data; for the questionnaire measures, the nature of the relation seemed to change with age. Discussion focused on reasons for the age-related changes in children's attitudes as well as the role of parents in the development of children's attitudes.