More than a sponge: Latinx youths' active role in discussions of discrimination

Latinx youth often experience racism and discrimination in various settings, which can significantly impact their socialization process. Latinx families commonly utilize ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) to help their children navigate these experiences. While ERS is typically understood as a parenting process, children's active participation in ERS remains understudied. This study aimed to address this gap by examining what happens after a child labels a hypothetical event in a standardized vignette as discriminatory or biased, specifically what responses youth elicit from their parent in a structured discussion task.

Transcription data from 26 Latinx mother-child dyads were microcoded at the level of conversational turn-taking using a novel coding scheme that included aspects of ERS.

Sequential analysis indicated that when children labeled an event as discriminatory, they primarily elicited scaffolding responses from their mothers.

These results highlight the active role of Latinx youth in familial discussions of race and ethnicity, illustrating how children elicit different responses from their parents, ultimately helping to shape the ERS process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).