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The Protective Role of Maternal Racial Socialization for African American Adolescents Exposed to Community Violence

Jessica S. Henry Emory University School of Medicine

Sharon F. Lambert The George Washington University

Mia Smith Bynum University of Maryland, College Park

Urban African American youth’s disproportionate exposure to community violence and increased risk for its adverse consequences have heightened interest in identifying protective factors that mitigate the effects of community violence exposure for these youth. Thus, the present study examined whether maternal racial socialization messages protect African American adolescents against the adverse effects of community violence exposure. Participants were a community sample of African American adoles- cents (N � 106; mean age � 15.41 years) and their female guardians. For community-violence-exposed youth, maternal racial socialization messages protected against aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms, such that maternal messages about cultural pride attenuated the association between com- munity violence exposure and parent-reported aggressive behaviors, and cultural appreciation of legacy messages attenuated the association between community violence exposure and adolescent-reported depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the need to integrate race-relevant factors into preventive interventions targeting African American youth at risk for or exposed to community violence, and suggest that family interventions promoting parents’ efficacy to implement racial socialization practices are useful for youth exposed to violence.

Keywords: African American adolescents, community violence, racial socialization, culture, race

African American youth are exposed to community violence at alarming rates because of their increased risk for living in racially segregated, lower socioeconomic, and disadvantaged neighbor- hoods (see Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000), neighborhood con- ditions associated with greater exposure to community violence. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) reported that homicide is the leading cause of death for African Americans between 15 and 34 years of age. Other research indi- cates that between 50% and 94% of African American youth have been exposed to violence either through witnessing or through direct victimization (Buka, Stichick, Birdthistle, & Earls, 2001; Sheidow, Gorman-Smith, Tolan, & Henry, 2001), depending on the definition of community violence and the sample studied (Overstreet, 2000). African American youth not only are exposed to high rates of community violence, but also have a greater likelihood of being exposed to violence than youth from other racial or ethnic groups (e.g., McCart et al., 2007).

The high rate of exposure to community violence among Afri- can American adolescents is a serious public health concern not only because of the increased risk for physical harm and possible death for youth exposed to community violence (see Buka et al., 2001, for review; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013), but also because of the numerous adverse emotional and behavioral health outcomes often associated with exposure. Expo- sure to community violence has been linked with internalizing symptoms and disorders including depression, anxiety, and post- traumatic stress disorder (Buka et al., 2001; Overstreet, 2000). In addition, community-violence-exposed youth have increased sub- stance use (Copeland-Linder, Lambert, Chen, & Ialongo, 2011), suicidal ideation and attempt (Lambert, Copeland-Linder, & Ia- longo, 2008), and poorer academic functioning (Hurt, Malmud, Brodsky, & Giannetta, 2001; Schwartz & Gorman, 2003). Consis- tent with social learning and contagion models (Bandura, 1977; Patten & Arboleda-Flórez, 2004), community violence exposure is strongly linked with aggressive behavior and violence perpetra- tion, as well as other conduct problems and delinquency (Buka et al., 2001; Overstreet, 2000). As a result, there has been increasing interest in identifying malleable factors that protect youth from community violence exposure and its adverse effects to inform interventions for community-violence-exposed youth and youth at risk of exposure (Brady, Gorman-Smith, Henry, & Tolan, 2008; Lambert, Ialongo, Boyd, & Cooley, 2005). Among this growing literature on the protective effects for community-violence- exposed youth, there has been scant attention to culturally relevant protective factors that are unique to African American adolescents.

Jessica S. Henry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine; Sharon F. Lambert, Department of Psychology, The George Washington University; Mia Smith Bynum, De- partment of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the participants of this study and all community partners.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jessica S. Henry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory Univer- sity School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303. E-mail: jhenry@gwmail .gwu.edu

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Journal of Family Psychology © 2015 American Psychological Association 2015, Vol. 29, No. 4, 548 –557 0893-3200/15/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000135

548

Thus, the present study examined the possible protective role of a culturally relevant source of protection, maternal racial socializa- tion messages, for African American adolescents exposed to com- munity violence.

Protective Factors for Community-Violence-Exposed Youth

Prior research suggests that support from family and peers can protect African American youth against the negative consequences of community violence exposure, particularly internalizing prob- lems. For instance, greater family closeness (Gorman-Smith & Tolan, 1998; Hammack, Richards, Luo, Edlynn, & Roy, 2004) and maternal acceptance (e.g., Bailey, Hannigan, Delaney-Black, Co- vington, & Sokol, 2006) lessen the association between commu- nity violence exposure and internalizing symptoms for African American youth. Community-violence-exposed youth with greater family and peer support report less anxiety (Hammack et al., 2004), are less aggressive (Benhorin & McMahon, 2008), and are less likely to be involved in violence perpetration (Brookmeyer, Henrich, & Schwab-Stone, 2005) than youth without such social support.

Few researchers have considered the potentially protective role of race-relevant, culturally specific factors for African Americans exposed to community violence. This is surprising given recogni- tion that culturally relevant variables are critical for a comprehen- sive understanding of African American youth’s developmental outcomes (García Coll et al., 1996). García Coll and colleagues (1996) stress the importance of examining experiences, beliefs, and values that are unique to minority youth’s culture and empha- size that these are significant influences on minority youth’s de- velopmental outcomes. Their integrative model describes the im- portance of incorporating race and contextual factors unique to the experience of African Americans (e.g., racial discrimination) into developmental and ecological frameworks when assessing the developmental processes and outcomes of minority and African American youth. Guided by this conceptual foundation, we con- sider the role of racial socialization as a source of protection against depressive and aggressive problems for African American youth exposed to community violence. Related to this proposition of a culturally relevant factor protecting against community vio- lence exposure, Sanders-Phillips (2009) argues that racial discrim- ination is a form of violence and notes several similarities between racial discrimination and violence. Sanders-Phillips’ conceptual- ization of racial discrimination as a form of violence suggests that the same types of processes may be protective against both types of stress. If so, racial socialization, whose protective effects against racial discrimination have been documented (e.g., Harris-Britt, Valrie, Kurtz-Costes, & Rowley, 2007; Neblett et al., 2008), also may protect against community violence exposure.

Racial Socialization

Race-related messages that parents communicate to their chil- dren play an important role in African American youth’s develop- ment. Most authors conceptualize racial socialization multidimen- sionally, and common dimensions are cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and egalitarianism (Hughes et al., 2006). Of these dimensions, African American

parents report using cultural socialization messages more fre- quently than other racial socialization messages (Hughes et al., 2006). Hughes and colleagues (2006) define cultural socialization as “parenting practices that teach children about their racial or ethnic heritage and history; that promote cultural customs and traditions; and that promote children’s cultural, racial, and ethnic pride, either deliberately or implicitly” (p. 749). Thus, cultural socialization includes both cultural or racial pride and cultural appreciation of legacy, each of which has been linked with fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms (e.g., Bynum, Burton, & Best, 2007; Caughy, O’Campo, Randolph, & Nickerson, 2002) and greater self-esteem (Constantine & Blackmon, 2002) and academic achievement (Smith, Atkins, & Connell, 2003). The current study focused on maternal cultural socialization messages for African American adolescents because the literature suggests that mothers tend to be the primary caregivers and that, compared with fathers, mothers use more cultural socialization messages with older youth (McHale et al., 2006).

It has been proposed that greater exposure to cultural socializa- tion messages may protect against race-related stress by equipping youth with more effective coping strategies when exposed to stressful events (Neblett et al., 2008). Only recently, however, has research examined the protective role of cultural socialization, most often focusing on its role as protective against the effects of perceived racial discrimination (e.g., Bynum et al., 2007; Harris- Britt et al., 2007; Neblett et al., 2008), with results generally revealing that these racial socialization messages do protect Afri- can American youth against the adverse consequences of racial discrimination (e.g., Harris-Britt et al., 2007; Neblett et al., 2008). It is important that research further explores the contexts in which racial socialization protects African American youth, including the possibility that racial socialization messages protect African American youth not only against racial discrimination, but also in other stressful contexts, such as community violence exposure. The literature identifying cross-domain protective resources (i.e., a domain mismatch between the protective resource and the stressor) for African American youth exposed to community violence sug- gests that a match between the source of protection and stressor may be less important for community-violence-exposed youth than for other types of stress (e.g., Bailey et al., 2006; Hammack et al., 2004).

The current study posited that racial socialization messages focused on cultural pride and cultural appreciation of legacy may protect African American youth exposed to community violence given the protection that these race-related messages afford Afri- can American youth exposed to discriminatory stress. Although racial discrimination is a race-specific stressor, both racial discrim- ination and community violence exposure are associated with similar responses and consequences (e.g., externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms) for children and adolescents. Also, the contexts in which youth are exposed to racial discrimination and violence include neighborhoods, one of the most important influential environments during childhood and adolescence (Lev- enthal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Finally, the impact of both racial discrimination and violence exposure limits youth’s family and community resources because of the impact of psychological dis- tress on parenting behaviors (e.g., nurturance and support) and community support. These similarities between racial discrimina- tion and violence, detailed by Sanders-Phillips (2009), suggest that

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549RACIAL SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNITY VIOLENCE

racial socialization, a family resource that protects against racial discrimination, may similarly protect against community violence exposure. There is some evidence supporting this proposition.

In line with prior research identifying family factors as protec- tive for African American youth exposed to community violence (e.g., Bailey et al., 2006), recent research suggests that racial socialization may be beneficial for African American adolescents exposed to community violence (Banerjee, Rowley, & Johnson, 2014; Bannon, McKay, Chacko, Rodriguez, & Cavaleri, 2009). Bannon and colleagues (2009) investigated the protective effects of race-related, cultural pride messages for elementary-age chil- dren with mental health risk factors (i.e., exposure to stressful events including community violence, domestic violence, and sub- stance abuse). Their research found that these race-relevant mes- sages protected African American children against the impact of child mental health risks on anxiety, such that there was no association between mental health risk and anxiety for youth receiving greater parental racial socialization messages focused on cultural pride, but there was a relationship between mental health risk and anxiety for those receiving lower levels of these messages from their parents. Similarly, Banerjee and colleagues (2014) found that parental messages emphasizing cultural heritage, his- tory, and pride protected African American college students against the effects of community violence on aggressive behaviors. These findings suggest that there are cross-domain protective effects of racial socialization, specifically that racial socialization messages can protect African Americans against community vio- lence exposure. However, because prior research with youth (Ban- non et al., 2009) has not focused specifically on adolescents and community violence apart from other stressors, it is not clear whether the protective benefits of racial socialization messages are applicable to community violence or to stress more generally. In addition, it is not clear whether the available research with a college student sample (Banerjee et al., 2014) is applicable to adolescents.

The Current Study

Although there is ample evidence that racial socialization can protect African American youth from the negative consequences of racial discrimination (e.g., Harris-Britt et al., 2007), it is not clear whether these messages protect against other stressors to which African American youth are disproportionately exposed. We proposed that the protective effects of maternal racial social- ization would extend beyond racial discrimination to another stres- sor common to the experience of African American adolescents: exposure to community violence. Like racial discrimination, ex- periences with violence may lead to more negative views of the self; these in turn can cause internalizing and externalizing symp- toms (Eccleston & Major, 2006; Mann, Hosman, Schaalma, & De Vries, 2004). Receiving positive messages about the self and one’s racial group may offset the deleterious impact of community violence on emotional and behavioral health. Recent studies sug- gest that racial socialization messages may protect African Amer- icans against the effects of community violence on mental and behavioral health, but these studies have not focused on the impact of community violence specifically on internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors (Bannon et al., 2009) or African American adolescents (Banerjee et al., 2014; Bannon et al., 2009). Moreover,

this prior research has not considered the multidimensional nature of cultural socialization; thus, it is not clear whether there are differential effects according to the type of cultural socialization message. Thus, we hypothesized that maternal racial socialization messages focused on cultural pride and cultural appreciation of legacy, two types of cultural socialization, would attenuate the positive associations between community violence exposure and adolescents’ depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors.

Method

Sample

Participants were 106 African American mother–adolescent dy- ads in an urban metropolitan district in the mideastern region of the United States. Fifty-seven percent of the adolescent sample was female and the mean age was 15.41 years (age range � 14 –17 years). Participating adolescents were in Grades 7–12, with most participants in Grade 9 (M � 9.81, SD � 1.28). Ninety-two percent of the adolescents resided with their biological mothers at the time of the interview, and the remaining resided with their grandmother, aunt, or other female guardians. Mothers and female guardians ranged in age from 26 to 72 years (M � 43.04 years, SD � 9.01). More than half of the female caregivers reported that they were employed at the time of the interview (65%). Additional sample characteristics are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Sample Characteristics

Characteristic %

Maternal caregiver Marital status

Never married 44.9 Married 27.1 Divorced 16.8 Separated 5.6 Widowed 5.6

Household income ($) �30,000 43.3 30,000–59,000 22.6 60,000–89,000 14.1 �90,000 18.9

Education Less than high school diploma 21.0 High school diploma 27.4 Some college experience 27.4 Bachelor’s degree 10.4 Some graduate education or degree 13.2

Adolescents Age (years)

14 28.3 15 25.5 16 22.6 17 23.6

Grade 7 2.8 8 12.3 9 28.3 10 25.5 11 19.8 12 11.3

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550 HENRY, LAMBERT, AND SMITH BYNUM

Procedure

This study was part of a larger project examining adolescents’ experiences with neighborhood and race-related stressors (e.g., neighborhood violence and disorder, experiences with racism), the precipitants and consequences of adolescents’ experiences with these stressors, and how adolescents and parents manage these stressors (e.g., racial socialization, coping). Potential participants learned about the study from community agencies, fliers, and/or newspaper advertisements. Trained research staff screened inter- ested individuals and provided them with information about proj- ect goals and procedures. At that time, interviews were scheduled with female caregivers who agreed to participate and who met the inclusion criteria (i.e., female parent or guardian of an African American adolescent between the ages of 14 and 17 years). At the interview, the caregiver provided written consent for herself and her adolescent, and adolescents provided assent. Interviews were conducted in participants’ homes or at local community sites. Although socioeconomic status, age, and gender were potential confounding variables in this study (Fitzpatrick, 1993), the current study only controlled for household income and adolescent grade level because of their association with community violence expo- sure.

Measures

Community violence exposure. Exposure to community vi- olence was assessed using the Witnessing and Victimization sub- scales of the Children’s Report of Violence Exposure (Cooley- Quille, Turner, & Beidel, 1995). The 10-item Witnessing subscale assesses the frequency with which the respondent has observed community violence (e.g., “How many times have you seen some- body you know being shot or stabbed?”); the five-item Victimiza- tion subscale assesses how often the respondent has been victim- ized by community violence (e.g., “How many times have you been shot or stabbed?”). Adolescents rated items on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (everyday). The Witness- ing and Victimization items were summed to create a community violence exposure score.

Cultural socialization messages. Cultural pride reinforce- ment and cultural appreciation of legacy were assessed using a modified version of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socializa- tion Scale (Stevenson, Cameron, Herrero-Taylor, & Davis, 2002) on which parents responded to 40 items regarding messages they had communicated to their teenage children when they were younger. The nine-item Cultural Pride Reinforcement subscale assesses the extent to which parents communicated messages that teach or promote pride and knowledge of African American cul- ture to children (e.g., “You should be proud to be Black”; “Never be ashamed of your color”). The five-item Cultural Appreciation of Legacy subscale assesses the extent to which parents endorse communicating cultural heritage issues such as enslavement and knowing important historical issues for African Americans (e.g., “Knowing your African heritage is important for your survival”; “Black people are connected to a history that goes back to African royalty”). Items are rated on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 3 (lots of times), and the items composing each subscale were summed to create subscale scores. Internal consistency for the subscales ranged from .71 to .85 (Stevenson et al., 2002). For

this sample, the alpha coefficients were .66 for the Cultural Pride subscale and .76 for the Cultural Appreciation of Legacy subscale.

Aggressive behavior. Aggression was measured using the Ag- gression subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991), a widely used parent report of their child’s aggression (e.g., “Gets in many fights”; “Physically attacks people”). Items are rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not true) to 3 (very true), with higher scores indicating more aggression. The Aggression sub- scale is a reliable and valid measure, with alphas exceeding .70 in community samples (e.g., Brennan, Hall, Bor, Najman, & Williams, 2003). Coefficient alpha in this sample was .92.

Depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (Angold et al., 1995), which assesses adolescent-reported depressive symptoms (e.g., “I felt miserable or unhappy”; “I cried a lot”). Items are rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not true) to 3 (true), with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms. The question- naire is a reliable and valid measure, with alphas exceeding .85 (e.g., Angold et al., 1995). Coefficient alpha in this sample was .89.

Results

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations

Means, standard deviations, and bivariate associations for study variables are presented in Table 2. Approximately 90% (n � 95) of the sample reported exposure to community violence in the past year. Community violence exposure was associated with parent- reported aggressive behavior and adolescent-reported depressive symptoms, but not with cultural socialization messages. The cultural socialization messages, cultural pride and cultural appreciation of legacy, were correlated with each other, but neither cultural pride nor cultural appreciation of legacy was correlated with parent-reported aggressive behavior or adolescent-reported depressive symptoms.

Protective Effects of Cultural Socialization

Hierarchical linear regression analyses following procedures outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986) were used to test whether cultural socialization messages protected against the impact of community violence exposure on aggression and depression (see Table 3). For these analyses, community violence exposure and cultural socialization messages (i.e., cultural pride and cultural appreciation of legacy) were centered, and these mean-deviated scores were used to compute interaction terms. For each model, control variables (i.e., adolescent grade level and household in- come), and mean-deviated variables (i.e., community violence exposure and both cultural socialization messages) were entered on the first step, and two-way interactions between community violence exposure and both cultural socialization messages were entered on the second step. Parent-reported aggression and adolescent-reported depression were the outcome variables. Thus, two regressions were performed. A moderating effect was con- firmed if the effect of the interaction term was significant after controlling for the main effects. To interpret the interactions, we examined simple slopes at 1 standard deviation above and below the moderator (i.e., cultural socialization; Aiken & West, 1991).

Aggressive behavior. The regression of parent-reported ag- gression on community violence exposure, cultural socialization

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551RACIAL SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNITY VIOLENCE

messages, and the interactions between community violence exposure and cultural socialization messages yielded a signifi- cant interaction between community violence exposure and cultural pride (see Figure 1). An examination of the simple slopes indicated a significant positive association between com- munity violence exposure and parent-reported aggression for youth whose mothers reported using less cultural pride, B � .55, t(103) � 2.97, p � .01, but no association between com- munity violence exposure and parent-reported aggression for youth whose mothers reported using more cultural pride, B � �.07, t(103) � �0.47, p � .64.

Depressive symptoms. The regression of adolescent-reported depressive symptoms on community violence exposure, cultural socialization messages, and the interactions between community violence exposure and cultural socialization messages yielded a significant interaction between community violence exposure and cultural appreciation of legacy (see Figure 2). An examination of the simple slopes indicated a significant positive association be-

tween community violence exposure and adolescent-reported depres- sion for youth whose parents reported using less cultural appreciation of legacy, B � .73, t(103) � 5.61, p � .001, but no association between community violence exposure and adolescent-reported de- pression for youth whose parents reported using more cultural appre- ciation of legacy, B � �.10, t(103) � �0.63, p � .53.

Discussion

Consistent with prior research (e.g., Benhorin & McMahon, 2008; Overstreet, 2000), the current study documented associa- tions between community violence exposure and mental health outcomes for African American youth. By examining whether racial socialization, a race-relevant factor specific to the African American experience and commonly found to protect African American youth against the impact of racial discrimination, also protected against mental and behavioral health outcomes associ- ated with exposure to community violence, this study addressed a

Table 2 Correlations Among Study Variables

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1. Community violence exposure — — — — — 2. Cultural pride reinforcement .01 — — — — 3. Cultural appreciation of legacy �.08 .61�� — — — 4. Aggressive behavior .23� .15 .05 — — 5. Depressive symptoms .33�� �.02 �.17� .11 — Total sample mean (SD) 9.25 (7.48) 23.83 (2.60) 12.12 (2.64) 22.98 (6.61) 18.38 (5.32) Male mean (SD) 9.24 (6.77) 23.50 (3.02) 11.61 (2.92) 21.72 (5.20) 17.65 (5.03) Female mean (SD) 9.25 (8.03) 24.08 (2.21) 12.52 (2.35) 23.95 (7.44) 18.93 (5.50) t (df) �0.01(104) �1.09(104) �1.72(104)� �1.82(104)� �1.25(104) Possible range 0–60 9–27 5–15 17–51 13–39 Observed range 0–32 14–27 5–15 17–47 13–39

Note. Community violence exposure � adolescent report of being beaten up, robbed, stabbed, or shot as assessed on the Children’s Report of Exposure to Community Violence (Cooley-Quille et al., 1995); Cultural pride reinforcement and cultural appreciation of legacy � parent-reported subscales of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale (Stevenson et al., 2002); Aggressive behavior � parent-reported Aggression subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991); Depressive symptoms � adolescent-reported depressive symptoms on the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (Angold et al., 1995). � p � .10. � p � .05. �� p � .01.

Table 3 Tests of Interactions Between Community Violence Exposure and Cultural Socialization Messages

Step

Aggressive behavior Depressive symptoms

R2 change

Final step

R2 change

Final step

B SE B � B SE B �

1: Adolescent grade level �.45 .50 �.09 .14 .37 .03 Household income �.34 .18 �.20� �.01 .13 �.01 CVE .22� .09 .24� .23�� .07 .32��

Cultural pride .20 .32 .08 .20 .23 .10 Cultural appreciation of legacy .12� .14 .32 .06 .15�� �.25 .23 �.12

2: CVE � Cultural pride �.11 .05 �.29� .01 .03 .03 CVE � Cultural appreciation of legacy .17� .05 .04 .14 .32��� �.11��� .03 �.43���

Note. CVE � Community violence exposure � adolescent report of being beaten up, robbed, stabbed, or shot as assessed on the Children’s Report of Exposure to Community Violence (Cooley-Quille et al., 1995); Cultural pride reinforcement and cultural appreciation of legacy � parent-reported subscales of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale (Stevenson et al., 2002); Aggressive behavior � parent-reported Aggression subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991); Depressive symptoms � adolescent-reported depressive symptoms on the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (Angold et al., 1995). � p � .10. � p � .05. �� p � .01. ��� p � .001.

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552 HENRY, LAMBERT, AND SMITH BYNUM

critical gap in the literature about the capacity for cultural factors to ameliorate the deleterious effects of exposure to community violence for African American adolescents.

Effects of Racial Socialization

Cultural socialization messages had different protective effects for depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors for African American youth exposed to community violence. The association between community violence exposure and aggressive behaviors was attenuated for youth whose mothers endorsed providing more cultural pride compared with youth whose mothers reported pro- viding fewer cultural pride messages. On the other hand, cultural appreciation of legacy messages moderated the link between com- munity violence exposure and depressive symptoms for African American youth, such that the association between community violence exposure and depressive symptoms was present only for youth whose mothers reported fewer cultural appreciation of leg- acy messages than their adolescent counterparts whose mothers endorsed more messages. These findings suggest that promoting feelings of cultural pride and teaching African American youth about their cultural heritage, and using pride and knowledge of heritage as a foundation for coping with racial discrimination, can ameliorate the negative impact of community violence exposure on both depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors. These findings are consistent with prior research documenting family factors as protective against community violence exposure (e.g., Bailey et al., 2006; Brookmeyer et al., 2005). In addition, this research is in line with literature indicating that parents play an integral role in protecting their children from the impact of daily stressors, especially for African American youth who continue spending large amounts of time with their family as they mature (Larson, Richards, Sims, & Dworkin, 2001).

It is possible that cultural socialization, a family-based source of protection delivered through parent– child communication, was protective in ameliorating the association between community violence exposure and depressive symptoms and aggressive be- haviors because of the many benefits of family communication for youth adjustment (Hutt, Wang, & Evans, 2009). For example, parent– child communication is linked with children’s interper-

sonal skills (e.g., Connell & Prinz, 2002), and youth with better parent– child communication may be more likely to seek social support after encountering a stressful event. Also important to note, although racial socialization constructs typically have been examined independent of general positive parenting constructs, recent research demonstrates that parents using more racial social- ization messages also are likely to report more general positive parenting, including parental involvement, cohesion, and monitor- ing (Banerjee, Harrell, & Johnson, 2011; Berkel et al., 2009; Brown, 2008; Caughy et al., 2002; Robbins et al., 2007; Smalls, 2009). Thus race-specific parenting and general positive parenting are not mutually exclusive; instead, these parenting practices and styles likely co-occur. It will be important for future research to examine whether the effects of racial socialization on adolescent well-being, including depressive symptoms and aggressive behav- iors, are unique or due to common features shared by racial socialization and general positive parenting qualities such as com- munication and trust.

The protective benefits of cultural socialization also may be due to the positive effects of cultural socialization on self-esteem and self-worth. African American youth are at an increased risk for living in racially segregated neighborhoods characterized by crime and violence (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000); these neighbor- hood conditions may impact their self-view, which may in turn cause increased sadness, depressive symptoms, anger, and aggres- sion. However, the self-esteem of African American youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods with violence is likely protected for youth who are consistently provided with positive information, knowledge, and history pertaining to their cultural group.

Although both types of cultural socialization messages were protective for African American youth exposed to community violence, different protective effects for these messages emerged for aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms, such that ma- ternal cultural socialization messages emphasizing feelings of pride protected against community violence on aggression, whereas maternal messages promoting cultural history and knowl- edge protected against community violence on depressive symp- toms. These findings highlight the importance of considering the multidimensional nature of cultural socialization messages and may explain why our findings differed from those reported by Banerjee and colleagues (2014). In that study, cultural socializa-

Figure 2. Interaction between parent-reported cultural appreciation of legacy and adolescent-reported community violence exposure. See the online article for the color version of this figure.

Figure 1. Interaction between parent-reported cultural pride and adolescent-reported community violence exposure. See the online article for the color version of this figure.

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tion messages protected community-violence-exposed African American college students against aggression, but not depression; however, they did not examine the two types of cultural socializa- tion messages separately. Findings from this research contribute to our understanding of whether the benefits of a protective factor are best realized for stressors in the same domain.

According to matching theory, a protective factor will be the best resource or support when it matches the domain of the stressor (Gore & Aseltine, 1995). For example, matching theory posits that peer support should be a better source of support for a peer-related stressor than a support from another domain, such as family support (Gore & Aseltine, 1995). In contrast, the current findings, coupled with findings reported by Banerjee and colleagues (2014) and Bannon and colleagues (2009), suggest that the domain of the protective factor for youth exposed to community violence does not have to match the stressor in order to protect. Similarly, a range of family and peer factors have been identified as sources of protection for African American youth exposed to community violence (e.g., Bailey et al., 2006; Benhorin & McMahon, 2008; Brookmeyer et al., 2005; Hammack et al., 2004). Collectively, these findings have significant implications for the development of preventive interventions. Such interventions are not limited to using domain specific techniques and can use a range of tech- niques and strategies to improve the mental health of African American youth exposed to community violence.

Implications

That cultural socialization messages emerged as protective against aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms for African American youth exposed to community violence suggests impli- cations for prevention and intervention efforts targeting African American youth. Findings from this research suggest that inter- ventions for African American youth exposed to community vio- lence and at risk for such exposure may want to consider increas- ing maternal messages about African American culture, history, and knowledge, and the appreciation of cultural legacy, as well as the promotion of cultural pride and feeling good about Black people. These types of maternal racial socialization messages may be helpful by promoting a positive self-image and identity of self. A positive self or racial group identity may be particularly impor- tant for African American youth who encounter economic hard- ships and exposure to stressful life events.

These findings also are relevant for mental health treatment services for African American youth exposed to community vio- lence. Providing mental health providers with education and train- ing about the protective benefits of maternal cultural socialization for not only racial discrimination stress, but possibly other stres- sors also, will likely impact clinician motivation to engage families in using racial socialization parenting practices in treatment ses- sions. Treatment efforts for African American youth could include empowering and assisting parents in implementing messages that promote cultural knowledge and history. For example, family therapy and parenting skills training may focus on educating parents about the importance of Black history for African Amer- ican youth, while enhancing these skills through activities such as role-play (e.g., Coard, Wallace, Stevenson, & Brotman, 2004). Our findings in conjunction with those of Bannon et al. (2009) that cultural socialization messages may protect African American

youth against the effects of stressful life events, including com- munity violence, on depressive symptoms and anxiety suggest that empirically supported interventions for internalizing symptoms (e.g., cognitive– behavioral therapy; e.g., Compton et al., 2004) may benefit from cultural adaptations that assess African Ameri- can parents’ views and core beliefs associated with their current use of racial socialization messages. It also may be important to provide parents with psychoeducation about the harmful effects of community violence exposure and the utility of messages empha- sizing cultural appreciation and pride for possibly reducing depres- sive symptoms. Increasing parents’ understanding of the rates and effects of community violence may facilitate their use of messages promoting positive feelings of pride and an increased appreciation for the African American culture.

This research investigating the protective effects of racial so- cialization messages for African American youth exposed to com- munity violence is in a nascent stage. Replication and extension of these cross-sectional findings in longitudinal research haves the potential to inform national educational policies for African Amer- ican youth. Based on these findings, educational systems may eventually want to consider mandating year-long Black history and education classes in communities impacted by violence. Cultural socialization messages received from parents and schools may in fact offer youth exposed to community violence the greatest ad- ditive benefit in reducing mental health symptoms.

Strengths, Limitations, and Future Directions

Despite arguments highlighting the importance of exploring culturally specific, race-relevant influences when investigating minority youth (e.g., García Coll et al., 1996), research focusing on factors protecting against the adverse effects of community violence exposure has not yet considered factors unique to minority youth’s experiences. Thus, a primary strength of this study is the examination of whether racial socialization mes- sages are protective for youth exposed to community violence. An investigation of sociocultural influential factors such as racial socialization in the context of stressful community envi- ronments allows for a more comprehensive understanding of potential resources that may be specific to African American or minority youth. Research has identified racial socialization as a protective factor for African American youth who encounter stressors such as racial discrimination, and this study extends our understanding of the generalizability of the protective ef- fects of racial socialization for stressors other than racial dis- crimination. Also noteworthy, the current study included mul- tiple reporters (i.e., parent and child), which likely improved problems associated with shared method variance.

These study strengths should be considered in the context of some design and measurement limitations. The current study was cross-sectional, limiting our ability to examine the direc- tion of effects. A longitudinal design would allow researchers to understand the developmental trajectory and influence of racial socialization in relation to community violence exposure. As suggested by Caldwell, Kohn-Wood, Schmeelk-Cone, Chavous, and Zimmerman (2004) and Seaton, Scottham, and Sellers (2006), sociocultural factors may offer African American youth greater protection over time, such that the protective effects of these factors may be more pronounced or more beneficial

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554 HENRY, LAMBERT, AND SMITH BYNUM

during transition periods for youth such as the transition into adulthood or during transitions into college. Thus, it will be important for future studies to include both adolescents and young adults or track youth over an extended period of time to determine the prospective benefits of sociocultural factors in the context of community violence exposure. Moreover, a com- prehensive understanding of how and under what conditions racial socialization protects African American youth against contextual stressors requires assessing the broader environ- ments in which these youth participate, including not only the family context but also schools and neighborhoods, which can either support or challenge parents’ socialization efforts; re- search adopting such an approach can best inform prevention and intervention efforts focused on African American youth.

In the current study, racial socialization messages were based on mother report only. Future studies should examine the protective effects of racial socialization with the addition of father reports; this may require adjusting racial socialization measures to specify which parent or caregiver because most racial socialization mea- sures simply refer to “parents.” It may be that the effects noted in the current study for cultural socialization messages differ depend- ing on whether the father’s communicated messages are consistent with the messages that the mother endorses. For example, McHale and colleagues (2006) found support for interparental congruence, such that consistent parenting practices among mothers and fathers increased perceptions of control in youth. It also will be important for future research to include both child and parent reports to account for informant variability; in this study, different findings for aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms in the current study may have been due to the use of different reporters for these constructs. Also regarding measurement, the alpha for the cultural pride variable was low; future research should evaluate the internal consistency of this construct. Finally, in this study, a composite score of witnessing community violence and direct victimization was used. Although there is no consensus in the community violence literature about whether to examine these types of com- munity violence separately or together (Overstreet, 2000), future research should evaluate the implications of considering different types of community violence exposure singly or in combination.

In sum, the current findings build on existing research suggest- ing that culturally relevant factors may be a source of protection, and should possibly be integrated into preventive interventions, for African American youth exposed to stressful life events, including community violence. Although it is acknowledged that future research is needed to replicate and extend our understanding of sociocultural factors for these youth, this research further under- scores the importance of using a cultural framework, such as the integrative model proposed by Garcia Coll and colleagues (1996), to advance the field of minority youth development. Because many African American youth continue to reside in disadvantaged com- munities plagued by community violence, it is important that research examining the effects of African American youth use more inclusive and comprehensive theoretical models that con- sider the uniqueness of their context and culture when exploring and identifying potential protective processes and factors, factors that may surprisingly protect above and beyond factors identified in mainstream models.

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Received December 31, 2014 Revision received June 18, 2015

Accepted June 18, 2015 �

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s do

cu m

en t

is co

py ri

gh te

d by

th e

A m

er ic

an P

sy ch

ol og

ic al

A ss

oc ia

ti on

or on

e of

it s

al li

ed pu

bl is

he rs

. T

hi s

ar ti

cl e

is in

te nd

ed so

le ly

fo r

th e

pe rs

on al

us e

of th

e in

di vi

du al

us er

an d

is no

t to

be di

ss em

in at

ed br

oa dl

y.

557RACIAL SOCIALIZATION AND COMMUNITY VIOLENCE