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. 2023 Oct;29(4):459-470.
doi: 10.1037/cdp0000619. Epub 2023 Aug 17.

Children's ethnic-racial identity and mothers' cultural socialization as protective in relations between sociocultural risk factors and children's internalizing behaviors

Chelsea D Williams  1 , Ashlynn D Bell  1 , Eryn N DeLaney  1 , Adriana J Umaña-Taylor  2 , Laudan B Jahromi  3 , Kimberly A Updegraff  4
Affiliations

Children's ethnic-racial identity and mothers' cultural socialization as protective in relations between sociocultural risk factors and children's internalizing behaviors

Chelsea D Williams et al. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: The present study examined whether sociocultural risk factors (i.e., mothers' risky behaviors, mothers' and grandmothers' ethnic discrimination, and family economic hardship) predicted children's internalizing behaviors. We also tested whether sociocultural protective factors, including children's positive ethnic-racial identity (ERI) attitudes and mothers' cultural socialization, moderated relations.

Method: Participants were 182 5-year-old Mexican-origin children, their mothers, and grandmothers.

Results: Findings indicated that children's positive ERI attitudes were protective, such that grandmothers' discrimination predicted children's greater internalizing at low levels of children's positive ERI attitudes, but this relation was not significant at high levels of children's positive ERI attitudes. Mothers' cultural socialization was also protective, such that mothers' risky behaviors predicted children's greater internalizing at low levels of mothers' cultural socialization, but this relation was not significant at high levels of mothers' cultural socialization. Economic hardship predicted children's greater internalizing and no variables moderated this relation.

Conclusions: Findings highlight that mothers' engagement in risky behaviors, grandmothers' ethnic discrimination experiences, and family economic hardship contribute to children's greater internalizing behaviors. However, in some of these relations, children's positive ERI attitudes and mothers' cultural socialization are protective. In future research and programming, a consideration of the role of individual, family, and cultural factors will be important for addressing and reducing children's internalizing behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Children’s Positive ERI Attitudes as a Moderator of Risk Factors Predicting Children’s Internalizing Behaviors Note. ERI = Ethnic-Racial Identity, disc = discrimination. Coresidency coded: 0 = Do not live together, 1 = Do live together. Child sex coded: 0 = male, 1 = female. Coefficients are unstandardized. Control variables and paths are in grey. * p < .05. *** p < .001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Moderation Effects of Children’s ERI Positive Attitudes on the Association between Grandmothers’ Discrimination and Children’s Internalizing Behaviors Note. *Denotes slope that is significant at p < .05. n.s. denotes slope that is not significant. Unstandardized coefficients were used.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mothers’ Cultural Socialization as a Moderator of Risk Factors Predicting Children’s Internalizing Behaviors Note. ERI = Ethnic-Racial Identity, disc = discrimination, cs = cultural socialization. Coresidency coded: 0 = Do not live together, 1 = Do live together. Child sex coded: 0 = male, 1 = female. Coefficients are unstandardized. Control variables and paths are in grey. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Moderation Effects of Mothers’ Cultural Socialization on the Association between Mothers’ Engagement in Risky Behaviors and Children’s Internalizing Behaviors Note. **Denotes slope that is significant at p < .01. n.s. denotes slope that is not significant. Unstandardized coefficients were used.
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