Parental Ethnic-Racial Socialization Practices and the Construction of Children of Color's Ethnic-Racial Identity: A Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis

Parental ethnic-racial socialization practices help shape the development of a strong ethnic-racial identity in children of color, which in turn contributes positively to mental health, social, and academic outcomes. Although there is a wide body of literature on the relationship between these meta-constructs, this research has not been systematically examined to either (a) determine the degree to which associations between parental ethnic-racial socialization approaches and ethnic-racial identity dimensions hold actual practical significance for parents of color or (b) estimate how these associations vary as a function of theorized mitigating factors. In response, this meta-analytic study investigated the strength of the association between parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and the construction of ethnic-racial identity, as well as factors that moderated the strength and direction of this association. Findings revealed that across 68 studies, there was a significant and substantive relationship between the global constructs of ethnic-racial socialization practices and ethnic-racial identity. Most individual practices of ethnic-racial socialization were positively associated with global ethnic-racial identity, and the strongest relationship was with pride and heritage socialization. Parental ethnic-racial socialization was also positively associated with all ethnic-racial identity dimensions tested except for public regard, with which it was negatively associated. Developmental findings showed that although ethnic-racial socialization positively predicted identity at every level of schooling, the strongest relationship was at the high school level. Finally, the association between ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic-racial identity was positive for African Americans, Latinxs, and Asian Americans alike, but the strongest relationship was among Latinxs. Implications for parenting practices and future research are discussed.