For youth and adults of color, prolonged exposure to racial discrimination may result in debilitating psychological, behavioral, and health outcomes. Research has suggested that race-based traumatic stress can manifest from direct and vicarious discriminatory racial encounters (DREs) that impact individuals during and after an event. To help their children prepare for and prevent the deleterious consequences of DREs, many parents of color utilize racial socialization (RS), or communication about racialized experiences. Although RS research has illuminated associations between RS and youth well-being indicators (i.e., psychosocial, physiological, academic, and identity-related), findings have mainly focused on RS frequency and endorsement in retrospective accounts and not on how RS is transmitted and received, used during in-the-moment encounters, or applied to reduce racial stress and trauma through clinical processes. This article explores how systemic and interpersonal DREs require literate, active, and bidirectional RS to repair from race-based traumatic stress often overlooked by traditional stress and coping models and clinical services. A novel theory (Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory [RECAST]), wherein RS moderates the relationship between racial stress and self-efficacy in a path to coping and well-being, is advanced. Greater RS competency is proposed as achievable through intentional and mindful practice. Given heightened awareness to DREs plaguing youth, better understanding of how RS processes and skills development can help youth and parents heal from the effects of past, current, and future racial trauma is important. A description of proposed measures and RECAST's use within trauma-focused clinical practices and interventions for family led healing is also provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study investigated the reliability and validity of the Racial Socialization Competency Scale (RaSCS). As posited by the Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory (RECAST), the RaSCS consists of 3 factors representing 3 novel dimensions of racial socialization competency present in families (e.g., stress, skills, and confidence). Responses to the RaSCS were collected from 361 self-identified Black and African American parents and primary caretakers across the United States. After factor analysis, three scales and 27 items were maintained. Evidence was consistently found for 2 subscales within the stress dimension, namely "Call to Action" and "General" racial socialization stressors. Dimensions were also related to their respectively hypothesized constructs, including overall stress, racial socialization frequency, and self-efficacy. Future directions and recommendations on the measure's use, particularly in the context of interventions, are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial-ethnic socialization is a process where parents pass beliefs and behaviors to their children, including critical reflections on race and racism. Currently, it is not well known across racial/ethnic groups in the U.S how parents’ socialization competency (confidence, skills, and stress surrounding the delivery of racial-ethnic socialization) coalesces with the frequency with which they deliver different types of socialization messages (socialization content). The current study utilizes latent profile analysis to examine racial-ethnic socialization content and competency patterns among 203 Black, 194 Latinx, and 188 Asian American parents (n = 585, M_age = 44.46, SD = 9.14, 59.70% mothers) with children 10–18 years old (M_age = 14.30, SD = 2.49, 50.3% female). Furthermore, we relate profiles to sociodemographic and relevant factors posited to impact socialization competency and content delivery, namely, discrimination and critical consciousness dimensions (reflection, motivation, action). We observed three parental profiles: Less Prepared Stressed Low Frequency (LPSLF; n = 285), Prepared Low Stress Frequent (PLSF; n = 204), and Prepared Stressed Frequent (PSF; n = 96) socializers. Profile differences emerged on parental and youth sociodemographic factors, lifetime discrimination exposure, and each parental critical consciousness dimension. This study lays a foundation for the combined study of racial-ethnic socialization competence and content in diverse groups, a practice crucial to understanding 21st century parenting.