Discrimination and cultural socialization among transracially and internationally adopted adolescents: A longitudinal study

Despite the increasing prevalence of transracial, international adoption over recent decades, adjustment outcomes for racial and ethnic minority adopted youth placed into White families and the environmental influences of... [ view full abstract ]

Despite the increasing prevalence of transracial, international adoption over recent decades, adjustment outcomes for racial and ethnic minority adopted youth placed into White families and the environmental influences of parenting on outcomes are not well understood (Lee, 2006). The current study examined how experiences of racial discrimination affect adjustment outcomes in a sample of internationally and transracially adopted adolescents from the Minnesota Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (SIBS), and the potential moderating role of racial socialization by parents. Racial socialization refers to the process by which parents teach children about their racial identity and prepare them to cope with experiences of discrimination (Hughes, 1997). Analyses were conducted separately for adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, using a longitudinal, cross-lagged design.  Results indicated that, as expected, discrimination predicted higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems. However, these associations were moderated by parental racial socialization, such that experiences of discrimination predicted higher levels of adolescent psychopathology only in those adolescents experiencing low levels of racial socialization. In adolescents experiencing high levels of racial socialization, by contrast, the associations between discrimination and psychopathology were notably attenuated and no longer significantly different from zero. Because the adolescents in this study do not share genes with their adoptive parents, the effects of racial socialization cannot be attributed to genetic effects shared between biological family members, and are thus likely to represent an important environmental influence on adolescent outcomes.