An Examination of Canadian Born Parents from Racialized Communities Racial Socialization Practices

ABSTRACT An Examination of Canadian Born Parents from Racialized Communities Racial Socialization Practices The aim of this thesis is to describe the racial socialization practices of Canadian born parents with children from 4 to 12 years of age from racialized communities in a large urban centre in Canada in order to generate a framework to describe the current practices of this group, with the intent of identifying areas of strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in current knowledge and practice. Additionally, it will examine parents’ responses to potential racism and discrimination their children may experience in the school setting from teachers, administration, and peers with the intent to describe the impact of racism and discrimination in these settings on parenting and racial socialization practices. These findings will contribute to the body of work in the field of racial socialization parenting practices to identify strategies to improve the ability of parents to adequately prepare children to cope with living in a race conscious world. This qualitative study uses a constructivist grounded theory methodology. This study identified two main themes which inform parental racial socialization practices, proactive and reactive. Proactive practices included those meant to instil racial pride and cultural awareness, the need to work twice as hard as racially privileged children to succeed, and protective to keep children safe. Reactive practices included wait and see, avoidance, and indifference. Influences on parent’s racial socialization practices were categorized as either children’s experiences, racialization practices of participants’ parents, or parents’ own experience with racism and discrimination. Racism is a significant social determinant of health, and the findings of this study can facilitate the formation, adaptation and implementation of programs and policies to assist young children cope with racial stress trauma. Additionally, understanding some of the common practices, stressors and influences on parents’ racial socialization practices can assist with the development of responsive strategies to further support families with young children coping and thriving in a race conscious society.

Department dc:contributor.department

Applied Psychology and Human Development

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Welch-Mitchell, Nicole

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Volpe, Richard

• Parenting
• Public Health
• Racial Socialization Practices
• Racialization

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1807/144834

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/144834