Profiles of Racial Socialization Messages from Mothers and Fathers and The Colorblind and Anti-Black Attitudes of Asian American Adolescents

Racial equality requires coalitions and solidarity across racial groups, but there continues to be racially colorblind and anti-Black attitudes within the Asian American community, a diverse community consisting of individuals with ancestral origins in East, Southeast, and South Asia. However, there is limited research on the factors that contribute to the development of these attitudes among Asian Americans. Parents could potentially play an important role in perpetuating or challenging the colorblind and anti-Black messages that pervade U.S. society. Thus, the current study investigates how 309 Asian American adolescents’ (M age = 16.8; SD = 1.15; 50.5% female) perceptions of parents’ racial socialization messages about race and racism relate to the youth’s racial attitudes. Latent profiles of youth’s perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ racial socialization messages and their associations with colorblind racial attitudes and anti-Black attitudes were examined. For mothers, three socialization profiles were identified: Race Avoidant, Race Hesitant, and Race Embracing; for fathers, two socialization profiles were identified: Race Avoidant and Race Embracing. Adolescents with Race Embracing mothers reported less anti-Black attitudes compared to those who had Race Hesitant mothers. For fathers, there were no differences among the profiles and anti-Black attitudes. However, surprisingly, adolescents with Race Embracing fathers were more likely to have colorblind racial attitudes compared to those with Race Avoidant fathers. The findings highlight the importance of racial socialization in the development of Asian American adolescents’ racial attitudes to continue fighting for interracial solidarity.