Parents' Estimates of Children's Racial Prejudices

Abstract

Previous research suggests that racial prejudice emerges in the early preschool years, often influenced by parental attitudes. However, many parents, particularly White parents, may be unaware that their children hold racial biases. Research suggests that White parents avoid discussing race with their children; therefore, they remain unaware of their children's ideas about race. However, research has yet to examine exactly how accurately parents predict their children's racial prejudices, and whether the accuracy of these estimates differ for parents of different backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) how early in childhood racial prejudice begins, (2) whether parents underestimate their children's racial prejudices, and (3) which group of parents, based on socioeconomic status (i.e. race and wealth), are most prone to underestimating their children's racial prejudices? Children's (N = 61; M = 7.77) racial prejudices were assessed through a friendship preference task in which children selected between a fair-skinned and a dark-skinned playmate, eight times. In addition, parents also made predictions about their children's choices in playmates. We compared parents' predictions of their children's selection of playmates with their children's actual selections to evaluate the accuracy of parental predictions. Furthermore, we examined the accuracy of these predictions across socioeconomic status to determine which group of parents were more likely to underestimate their children's racial prejudices. Results revealed that, in contrast to past research, children did not express racial biases in their selection of playmates. Additionally, parents did not underestimate their children's racial biases, and these underestimates did not differ by parents' socioeconomic status. Implications for prejudice development and parenting are discussed.