Examining Parenting and Anti-Racism Among White Parents: Does White Fragility Matter?

The minimization of racism among White adults stifles racial progress and underscores the need to discuss racism starting in childhood. Parents are key contributors to children's racial socialization and their actions may influence the development of anti-racist behaviors through modeling. Previous work examining parenting styles and behaviors has focused on child outcomes, with little examination of characteristics of White parents themselves, such as frequency of anti-racist behavior. As parents are children's first teachers, implications of parents' own involvement in anti-racism may inform interventions disrupting the intergenerational transmission of racism. To address this, 229 White parents completed questionnaires assessing self-reported parenting, anti-racism behaviors, and White fragility. Authoritarian parenting was negatively associated with anti-racist behavior (r = -0.20, p = 0.002). This association was qualified by White fragility, such that authoritarian parenting was positively associated with anti-racist behavior at high White fragility (+1 SD) and negatively associated with anti-racist behavior at low White fragility (-1 SD). Authoritative parenting was positively associated with anti-racist behavior (r = 0.25, p < 0.001); this effect was also qualified by White fragility such that this positive association only existed at relatively low and mean levels of White fragility (but not at high levels). These results suggest that the degree to which parenting styles are associated with anti-racism depends on parents' level of White fragility. Implications of these results include potential influences of parenting style and parents' anti-racist behavior on children's racial socialization as well as considerations for research focused on anti-racist socialization efforts.