Instilling racial pride leads to better school performance

Racial pride for African American teens contributes to more success in school. The pride, usually instilled by parents, reduces vulnerability to the effects of racial discrimination from teachers and peers. The University of Pittsburgh study shows that when African American parents use racial socialization – talking to their children or engaging in activities that promote feelings of racial knowledge, pride, and connection – it offsets racial discrimination’s potentially negative impact on students’ academic development.

Protection and pride

Preparing students for bias has a protective factor, though a combination of this preparation and racial socialization was found to be ideal in mitigating possible damaging effects of discrimination.

Dysfunctional “racial blindness”

“Our findings challenge the notion that ‘race blindness’ is a universally ideal parenting approach, especially since previous research has shown that racially conscious parenting strategies at either extreme – either ‘race blindness’ or promoting mistrust of other races – are associated with negative outcomes for African American youth,” said lead author Ming-Te Wang, Pit assistant professor of psychology in education. “When African American parents instill a proud, informed, and sober perspective of race in their sons and daughters, these children are more likely to experience increased academic success.”

Racial pride increases resilience

Previous studies have shown that male African American students in particular are at risk for unfair disciplinary actions, discouragement from taking advanced classes and for receiving lower grades than deserved all due to race. Other actions like getting into fights, being bullied and not being selected for teams also occur. This study looked at how these actions affected academic performance when parents racially socialized their children. The study found that racial pride was the most powerful factor in protecting children form discriminatory behavior, directly affecting grade point average, educational aspirations and cognitive engagement.

Cultivation pride is a powerful tool for academic performance

“Our study provides empirical evidence that the longstanding practice in the African American community of cultivating racial pride and preparing children to face racial bias in society should be considered among appropriate and beneficial practices in parenting Black children,” concluded Want.

Source: MedicalNewsToday, Child Development