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Racial attitudes of preschoolers: age, race of examiner, and child-care setting
1Department of Counseling, Development, and Higher Education University of North Texas, Denton 76203-1337, USA.
Insights
Preschool children showed neutral racial attitudes overall, but older Euro-American children displayed a bias. Understanding early racial attitudes is key to preventing prejudice and fostering positive racial identity.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Early Childhood Education
Background:
- Early childhood is a critical period for the development of racial attitudes.
- Understanding the origins of racial bias in young children is essential for intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess racial attitudes in preschool children from diverse childcare settings.
- To identify potential biases in racial perception among young children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Preschool Racial Attitudes Measure II (PRAM II) with 60 preschool children.
- Compared racial attitudes across monoracial Euro-American, monoracial African-American, and multiracial programs.
Main Results:
- Overall neutral racial attitudes were observed across all children.
- A significant Euro-American bias was detected among older preschool children.
Conclusions:
- Early racial attitudes, even subtle biases, warrant further investigation.
- Recognizing and addressing early racial perceptions may be crucial for preventing prejudice and promoting positive racial identity.
Abstract:
Racial attitudes of 60 preschool children (28 boys, 32 girls) from either a monoracial Euro-American child-care program (n = 16), a monoracial African-American program (n = 12), or a multiracial program (25 Euro-Americans, 7 African-Americans) were assessed using the Preschool Racial Attitudes Measure II. Despite the over-all neutral attitudes reflected by these children, evidence of a Euro-American bias among older children was found. If replicated with a large randomly selected sample recognizing and understanding early racial attitudes may be a key factor in fostering positive racial identity and preventing the formation of prejudice.