Parents’ differential trait, mental state, and coping talk about White and Black child storybook characters

Abstract

Limited literature has examined parents’ unsolicited trait, mental state, and coping talk about media characters by race as they co‐view with their children. We observed 195 US parents describing an illustrated depiction of racialized social exclusion for their child (53% male; Mage = 5.46 years; 60% White) in their home setting. Families discussed a Black child being excluded by White children or a White child being excluded by Black children. Parents’ victim, emotion, personality, and coping talk about the excluded child were coded. Parents were more likely to use victim talk (e.g., “she's being excluded”) and emotion talk (e.g., “she's sad”) when the excluded child was Black and were more likely to use personality talk (e.g., “she's shy”) when the excluded child was White. We further explored parents’ demographic, personal, and neighborhood correlates with their trait, mental state, and coping talk. White parents with greater levels of egalitarian attitudes used more victim talk and coping talk (e.g., “she should go play with them”) about the White excluded child. Being more politically conservative was associated with White parents using more coping talk about the Black excluded child. White parents living in predominantly Black neighborhoods were less likely to use victim talk toward the Black child. BIPOC parents showed more nuanced patterns. These findings suggest that parents’ unsolicited racial messaging varies by racial identification, sociodemographic characteristics, and neighborhood context.