Family Cultural Socialization in Childhood: Navigating Ethnic/Racial Diversity and Numeric Marginalization in School and Neighborhood Settings

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the role of ethnic/racial composition in schools and neighborhoods in (a) predicting family cultural socialization and (b) moderating the relation between family cultural socialization and young children’s social competence over time. Method: Two nationally representative, longitudinal samples were used from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 and 2010–11 cohorts. The analytic sample included 11,870 ethnic/racial minority children (mean age was 5.66 years old at Wave 1; 50% female; 31% Black, 49% Latinx, 18% Asian American, 2% Native American). Results: Path analyses showed that families practiced more cultural socialization in more diverse schools and neighborhoods. Moreover, family cultural socialization was most beneficial for children’s social competence when they were in diverse settings with few coethnics. Conclusions: The results highlighted cultural socialization as a tool that ethnic/racial minority families use to help their children navigate ethnic/racial diversity and numeric marginalization in social settings