Engaging or Waiting: Variations in Asian American Parents’ Motivations and Approaches to Racial Socialization During Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Parental racial socialization has promotive and protective effects on children’s development as they navigate their racialized worlds. Few studies have focused on how Asian American parents navigate conversations about race and racism with their children during middle childhood and early adolescence, even though children during this period are making sense of race-related topics and their racial–ethnic identities. The present study qualitatively explored Asian American parents’ racial socialization motivations and beliefs. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 68 Asian American parents (Mage = 43.4 years, SD = 5.0; 78% mothers) with children between the ages of 6 and 12, residing across the United States. About two thirds of the parents were second generation and one third were first generation. Data were coded and thematically analyzed using a hybrid inductive–deductive approach. The results indicated that many parents were motivated to engage in conversations about race and racism with their children because they believed knowledge of racism and the ability to cope with and respond to racial discrimination would benefit their children’s development. However, some parents reported waiting to have such conversations because they believed talking about race and racism with their children would be detrimental to their children’s well-being. Qualitative differences by generational status and family racial–ethnic makeup (i.e., monoracial, multiracial) suggest that parents’ racial socialization decisions are reflective of their acculturation experiences and that racial socialization engagement among parents of multiracial children is sometimes dependent on their children’s racialized experiences. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.