Parent and Peer Racial-Ethnic Socialization Facilitates Psychological Well-Being Via Proactive Coping: A Daily Diary Study

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the promotive and protective effects of parental and peer racial-ethnic socialization (RES) on adolescents' psychological well-being in the context of racial-ethnic discrimination. We hypothesized that RES would buffer the pernicious effects of discrimination on well-being by promoting more proactive coping (problem-solving, seeking social support) and less avoidant coping responses.

Method: Participants were a nationally representative sample of 371 ethnoracially minoritized adolescents who were recruited through a research survey panel (51.75% assigned female sex at birth; 46.90% Black, 24.80% Latine, 20.22% Asian/Asian American; M_age= 14.47 years, SD_age= 1.46, age-range= 10-19 years). Participants completed daily surveys of exposure to racial-ethnic discrimination, RES, coping, and psychological well-being across 30 days.

Results: Results indicated parental cultural socialization promoted more positive next-day well-being via increased problem-solving coping (B=0.01, SE=0.01, p<.05). The same pattern of findings emerged when examining cultural socialization messages from peers (B=0.02, SE=0.01, p<.01) and preparation for bias messages from parents (B=0.02, SE=0.01, p<.01). RES significantly moderated the effects of racial-ethnic discrimination on avoidance coping.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that RES from parents and peers may promote more positive psychological well-being in adolescents by facilitating proactive coping processes on days when they experience racial-ethnic discrimination. Overall, the study points to the need for continued efforts to develop, test, and disseminate evidence-based approaches to strengthening RES competency, as doing so may be a critical avenue for cultivating resilience among ethnoracially minoritized youth.