Abstract
As research exploring the racial-ethnic socialization practices of African American families continues to expand, scholars have argued for a more multidimensional approach in the measurement of racial-ethnic socialization that focuses on the influence that youths’ gender may have on the messages families provide. Although studies have used current racial-ethnic socialization measures to examine gender differences in the messages youth receive, these studies are limited in investigating intersectional messages that African American girls and women receive regarding racial and gender identities. The present preliminary study sought to address this inadequacy by developing the Gendered Racial-Ethnic Socialization Scale for Black Women (GRESS-BW), a scale that accounts for the unique messages African American young women receive regarding their intersectional identities. Utilizing a sample of 174 African American college women, Exploratory Factor Analysis indicated that the GRESS-BW consisted of 63 items with a 9-factor solution. There was strong internal consistency for the GRESS-BW factors and the total scale. GRESS-BW construct validity assessment revealed that several of the factors were significantly positively related to a racial-ethnic socialization scale. However, only two components were significantly related to a gender-role socialization measure. Clinical and research implications are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anglin, D. M., & Wade, J. C. (2007). Racial socialization, racial identity, and Black students’ adjustment to college. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 207–215. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.13.3.207.
Bem, S. L. (1977). On the utility of alternative procedures for assessing psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45(2), 196–205. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.45.2.196.
Bentley-Edwards, K. L., & Stevenson, H. C., Jr. (2016). The multidimensionality of racial/ethnic socialization: Scale construction for the cultural and racial experiences of socialization (CARES). Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 96–108. doi:10.1007/s10826-015-0214-7.
Blackmon, S. M., & Thomas, A. J. (2013). Linking contextual affordances: Examining racial-ethnic socialization and parental career support among African American college students. Journal of Career Development, 41, 301–320. doi:10.1177/0894845313495588.
Blackmon, S. M., Owens, A. C., Geiss, M. L., Laskowsky, V., Donahue, S., & Ingram, C. (2015). Am I my sister’s keeper?: Linking domestic violence attitudes to Black racial identity. Journal of Black Psychology. doi:10.1177/0095798416633583. Advance online publication.
Boisnier, A. D. (2003). Race and women’s identity development: Distinguishing between feminism and womanism among Black and White women. Sex Roles, 49(5-6), 211–218. doi:10.1023/A:1024696022407.
Bronstein, P. (2006). The family environment: Where gender role socialization begins. In J. Worell & C. D. Goodheart (Eds.), Handbook of girls’ and womens’ psychological health: Gender and well-being across the lifespan (pp. 262–271). New York: Oxford University Press.
Brown, D. L. (2008). African American resiliency: Examining racial socialization and social support as protective factors. Journal of Black Psychology, 34, 32–438. doi:10.1177/0095798407310538.
Brown, T. L., & Krishnakumar, A. (2007). Development and validation of the Adolescent Racial and Ethnic Socialization Scale (ARESS) in African American families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(8), 1072–1085. doi:10.1007/s10964-007-9197-z.
Brown, D. L., & Tylka, T. L. (2011). Racial discrimination and resilience in African American young adults: Examining racial socialization as a moderator. Journal of Black Psychology, 37, 259–285. doi:10.1177/0095798410390689.
Brown, T. L., Linver, M. R., Evans, M., & DeGennaro, D. (2009). African American parents’ racial and ethnic socialization and adolescent academic grades: Teasing out the role of gender. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(2), 214–227. doi:10.1007/s10964-008-9362-z.
Buckley, T. R., & Carter, R. T. (2005). Black adolescent girls: Do gender role and racial identity impact their self-esteem? Sex Roles, 53(9-10), 647–661. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-7731-6.
Chisholm, J., & Greene, B. (2008). Women of color. In F. Denmark & M. Paludi (Eds.), Psychology of women (pp. 40–69). Westport: Praeger.
Cole, E. R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64(3), 170–180. doi:10.1037/a0014564.
Cole, E. R., & Zucker, A. N. (2007). Black and White women’s perspectives on femininity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(1), 1–9. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.13.1.1.
Collins, P. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Constantine, M. G. (2002). The intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class in counseling: Examining selves in cultural contexts. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 30, 210–215.
Constantine, M. G., & Blackmon, S. M. (2002). Black adolescents’ racial socialization experiences: Their relations to home, school, and peer self-esteem. Journal of Black Studies, 32, 322–335. doi:10.1177/002193470203200303.
Cooper, S. M., Guthrie, B. J., Brown, C., & Metzger, I. (2011). Daily hassles and African American adolescent females’ psychological functioning: Direct and interactive associations with gender role orientation. Sex Roles, 65(5-6), 397–409. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0019-0.
Crenshaw, K. W., Ocen, P., & Nanda, J. (2015). Black girls matter: Pushed out, overpoliced and underprotected. African American Policy Forum. New York: Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies.
Daly, A., Jennings, J., Beckett, J. O., & Leashore, B. R. (1995). Effective coping strategies of African Americans. Social Work, 40(2), 240–248. doi:10.1093/sw/40.2.240.
DeVellis, R. F. (2003). Scale development: Theory and applications (2nd ed.). Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Edmondson Bell, E. L. J., & Nkomo, S. N. (1998). Armoring: Learning to withstand racial oppression. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 29(2), 285–295.
Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism: An interdisciplinary theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Fischer, A. R., & Shaw, C. M. (1999). African Americans’ mental health and perceptions of racist discrimination: The moderating effects of racial socialization experiences and self-esteem. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 395–407. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.46.3.395.
Frabutt, J. A., Walker, A. M., & MacKinnon-Lewis, C. (2002). Racial socialization messages and the quality of mother/child interactions in African American families. Journal of Early Adolescence, 22, 200–217. doi:10.1177/0272431602022002004.
Greene, B. (1994). African American women. In L. Comas-Diaz & B. Greene (Eds.), Women of color: Integrating ethnic and gender identities in psychotherapy (pp. 11–29). New York: Guildford Publications.
Halgunseth, L. C., Ispa, J. M., Csizmadia, A., & Thornburg, K. R. (2005). Relations among maternal racial identity, maternal parenting behavior, and child outcomes in low-income, urban, Black families. Journal of Black Psychology, 31(4), 418–440. doi:10.1177/0095798405275272.
Harrington, E. F., Crowther, J. H., & Shipherd, J. C. (2010). Trauma, binge eating, and the “strong Black woman.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(4), 469–479. doi:10.1037/a0019174.
Harris, A. C. (1996). African American and Anglo-American gender identities: An empirical study. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 182–194. doi:10.1177/00957984960222004.
Helgeson, V. S., & Fritz, H. L. (1998). A theory of unmitigated communion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(3), 173–183. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0203_2.
Helms, J. E. (1990). “Womanist” identity attitudes: An alternative to feminism in counseling theory and research. Unpublished manuscript.
Hill, S. A. (2002). Teaching and doing gender in African American families. Sex Roles, 47(11-12), 493–506. doi:10.1023/A:1022026303937.
Howell, A. J. (2009). Flourishing: Achievement-related correlates of students’ well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(1), 1–13. doi:10.1080/17439760802043459.
Hughes, D. L., & Chen, L. (1997). When and what parents tell children about race: An examination of race-related socialization in African American families. Applied Developmental Science, 1(4), 200–214. doi:10.1207/s1532480xads0104_4.
Hughes, D. L., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E. P., Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices: A review of research and directions for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 747–770. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.747.
Hughes, D. L., Witherspoon, D., Rivas-Drake, D., & West-Bey, N. (2009). Received ethnic–racial socialization messages and youths’ academic and behavioral outcomes: Examining the mediating role of ethnic identity and self-esteem. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 15(2), 112–124. doi:10.1037/a0015509.
Jones, C., & Shorter-Gooden, K. (2003). Shifting: The double lives of Black women in America. New York: HarperCollins.
Kelly, E. M. (2001). I. Female, young, African-American, and low-income: What’s feminism got to do with her? Feminism & Psychology, 11(2), 152–156. doi:10.1177/0959353501011002002.
King, D. (1988). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of a Black feminist ideology. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(1), 42–72.
Landor, A. M. (2012). Does skin tone matter?: Exploring the impact of skin tone on colorism within families, racism, and racial socialization among African American adolescents (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Lewis, J. A., Mendenhall, R., Harwood, S. A., & Browne-Huntt, M. (2013). Coping with gendered racial microaggressions among Black women college students. Journal of African American Studies, 17(1), 51–73. doi:10.1007/s12111-012-9219-0.
Little, R. J. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202. doi:10.2307/2290157.
Littlefield, M. B. (2004). Gender role identity and stress in African American women. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 8(4), 93–104. doi:10.1300/J137v08n04_06.
Mahalik, J. R., Morray, E. B., Coonerty-Femiano, A., Ludlow, L. H., Slattery, S. M., & Smiler, A. (2005). Development of the conformity to feminine norms inventory. Sex Roles, 52(7-8), 417–435. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-3709-7.
Malson, M. R. (1983). Black women’s sex roles: The social context for a new ideology. Journal of Social Issues, 39(3), 101–113.
Nash, S. T. (2005). Through Black eyes: African American women’s constructions of their experiences with intimate male partner violence. Violence Against Women, 11(11), 1420–1440. doi:10.1177/1077801205280272.
Neblett, E. W., Philip, C. L., Cogburn, C. D., & Sellers, R. M. (2006). African American adolescents’ discrimination experiences and academic achievement: Racial socialization as a cultural compensatory and protective factor. Journal of Black Psychology, 32, 199–218. doi:10.1177/0095798406287072.
Neblett, E. W., Smalls, C. P., Ford, K. R., Nguyen, H. X., & Sellers, R. M. (2009). Racial socialization and racial identity: African American parents’ messages about race as precursors to identity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(2), 189–203. doi:10.1007/s10964-008-9359-7.
Ossana, S. M., Helms, J. E., & Leonard, M. M. (1992). Do“ womanist” identity attitudes influence college women’s self-esteem and perceptions of environmental bias? Journal of Counseling and Development, 70(3), 402–408.
Parham, T. A. (1989). Cycles of psychological nigrescence. The Counseling Psychologist, 17, 187–226. doi:10.1177/0011000089172001.
Peters, M. F. (1985). Racial socialization of young Black children. In H. McAdoo & J. McAdoo (Eds.), Black children: Social, educational, and parental environments (pp. 159–173). Newbury Park: Sage.
Pleck, J. H. (1995). The gender role strain paradigm: An update. In R. F. Levant & W. S. Pollack (Eds.), A new psychology of men (pp. 11–32). New York: Basic Books.
Settles, I. H. (2006). Use of an intersectional framework to understand Black women’s racial and gender identities. Sex Roles, 54, 589–601. doi:10.1007/s11199-006-9029-8.
Speight, S. L. (2007). Internalized racism: One more piece of the puzzle. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 126–134. doi:10.1177/0011000006295119.
Stevenson, H. C. (1995). Relationship of adolescent perceptions of racial socialization to racial identity. Journal of Black Psychology, 21(1), 49–70. doi:10.1177/00957984950211005.
Stevenson, H. C., Cameron, R., Herrero-Taylor, T., & Davis, G. Y. (2002). Development of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale: Correlates of race-related socialization frequency from the perspective of Black youth. Journal of Black Psychology, 28(2), 84–106. doi:10.1177/0095798402028002002.
Sullivan, L., Meschede, T., Dietrich, L., Shapiro, T., Traub, A., Ruetschlin, C., & Draut, T. (2015). The racial wealth gap: Why policy matters. Institute for Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University and Demos. Retrieved from http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/RacialWealthGap_2.pdf.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
Thomas, A. J., & Blackmon, S. M. (2015). The influence of the Trayvon Martin shooting on racial socialization practices of African American parents. Journal of Black Psychology, 41(1), 75–89. doi:10.1177/0095798414563610.
Thomas, A. J., & King, C. T. (2007). Gendered racial socialization of African American mothers and daughters. The Family Journal, 15(2), 137–142. doi:10.1177/1066480706297853.
Thomas, A. J., & Speight, S. L. (1999). Racial identity and racial socialization attitudes of African American parents. Journal of Black Psychology, 25(2), 152–170. doi:10.1177/0095798499025002002.
Thomas, A. J., Witherspoon, K. M., & Speight, S. L. (2004). Toward the development of the Stereotypic Roles for Black Women Scale. Journal of Black Psychology, 30(3), 426–442. doi:10.1177/0095798404266061.
Thomas, A. J., Speight, S. L., & Witherspoon, K. M. (2010). Racial socialization, racial identity, and race-related stress of African American parents. The Family Journal, 18(4), 407–412. doi:10.1177/1066480710372913.
Thomas, A. J., Hacker, J. D., & Hoxha, D. (2011). Gendered racial identity of Black young women. Sex Roles, 64, 530–542. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9939-y.
Thompson, B. (2004). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Understanding concepts and applications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Thornton, M. C., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Allen, W. R. (1990). Sociodemographic and environmental correlates of racial socialization by Black parents. Child Development, 61(2), 401–409.
Toner, B., Tang, T., Ali, A., Akman, D., Stuckless, N., Esplen, M. J., & Ross, L. (2012). Developing a gender role socialization scale. In J. L. Oliffe & L. Graves (Eds.), Designing and conducting gender, sex & health research (pp. 189–200). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Townsend, T. G., Thomas, A. J., Neilands, T. B., & Jackson, T. R. (2010). I’m no Jezebel; I am young, gifted, and Black: Identity, sexuality, and Black girls. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34(3), 273–285. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01574.x.
Walker, A. (1983). In search of our mothers’ gardens: Womanist prose. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Walsh, W. B., & Betz, N. E. (1995). Tests and assessment. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Watson, N. N., & Hunter, C. D. (2015). I had to be strong. Tensions in the strong Black woman schema. Journal of Black Psychology. doi:10.1177/0095798415597093. Advance online publication.
Watt, S. K. (2006). Racial identity attitudes, womanist identity attitudes, and self-esteem in African American college women attending historically Black single-sex and coeducational institutions. Journal of College Student Development, 47, 319–334. doi:10.1353/csd.2006.0038.
West, C. M. (1995). Mammy, sapphire, and jezebel: Historical images of Black women and their implications for psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 32(3), 458–466. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.32.3.458.
Williams, C. B. (2005). Counseling African American women: Multiple identities-multiple constraints. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83, 278–283.
Woods-Giscombé, C. L. (2010). Superwoman schema: African American women’s views on stress, strength, and health. Qualitative Health Research, 20(5), 668–683. doi:10.1177/1049732310361892.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
No identifying information is contained within the manuscript. We certify that this manuscript was conducted in accordance with APA ethical standards. It has not been published elsewhere or submitted elsewhere for review and does not constitute piecemeal publication as defined by APA.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOCX 17 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brown, D.L., Blackmon, S., Rosnick, C.B. et al. Initial Development of a Gendered-Racial Socialization Scale for African American College Women. Sex Roles 77, 178–193 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0707-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0707-x