A Developmental Perspective On The Racial Socialization Of White Children: Linguistic And Social-Cognitive Considerations

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2025

Published In

Social And Personality Psychology Compass

Abstract

While there is growing consensus that it is important to talk about race and racism with children (a process called racial socialization)—particularly with White children—what to say when having these discussions is less clear. Here, we argue that how parents have these discussions (in addition to what they say) is important to consider because children might interpret messages differently depending on specific linguistic features. Specifically, we highlight the potential role of abstraction, generic language, and modality as three features of language both researchers and White parents might consider when thinking of racial socialization. We also highlight developmental shifts in how these linguistic features might be interpreted. Finally, we suggest some future directions for racial socialization researchers.

Keywords

language, racial socialization, social cognitive development

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