Popular press articles have advocated for parent-child conversations about race to prevent children from developing racial biases, yet empirical investigations of the impact of racial socialization in White families in the U.S. are scarce. Scott et al. (2020) warn that, given the lack of empirical evidence, parents might actually do more harm than good by talking to their children about race. In this comment, we draw upon the literature on (1) racial socialization, (2) parenting and parent-child discourse, and (3) the role of nonverbal communication in parental socialization to inform our understanding of parents’ ability to engage in race-related conversations in the absence of empirical guidance. We also highlight emerging evidence of the potential benefits of these conversations (even if parents are uncomfortable). In sum, the wealth of existing literature suggests that parents can successfully navigate challenging conversations with their children—which tends to result in better outcomes for children than avoiding those conversations. Thus, although we support Scott et al.’s call for researchers to develop more empirical research, we part with the authors’ assertion that White parents should wait to have these conversations with their children—we believe that the time to begin talking is now.
The role of dynamic, dyadic parent–child processes in parental socialization of emotion.
