A Mixed Methods Investigation of Black Parents’ Socialization on Gendered Racism and Misogynoir against Black Women and Girls

Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods study, psychologist Seanna Leath will identify if and how Black parents use racial socialization—a parenting practice that helps their children understand, process, and cope with racial discrimination—to foster positive social development among their daughters. She will first explore parents’ awareness of gendered racism and misogynoir—how racism and sexism intersect to produce racialized gendered violence and harm against Black women and girls. Leath will conduct semi-structured interviews with 30 Black mothers and 30 Black fathers, exploring the relationships between parents’ race and gender-related beliefs, direct and vicarious experiences of misogynoir, and exposure to misogynoir through social media, and the parenting practices and socialization messages they communicate to daughters about racism and sexism. She expects parents to describe many direct and vicarious experiences of gendered racism and misogynoir, such as adultification of Black girls (others treating them as developmentally older than they are), physical appearance and tone policing (dress code violations in school contexts), and the invisibility of their experiences.