DISCRIMINATION AND DEVIANCE: RACIAL SOCIALIZATION MATTERS by CALLIE HARBIN BURT (Under the Direction of Ronald L. Simons) ABSTRACT Recent work has reinvigorated scholarly attention to the criminogenic potential of racial discrimination. This research confirms that experiencing discrimination is a strong predictor of crime and deviance among African Americans. Consistent with Agnew’s general strain theory (1992) and stress models (Pearlin 1989), this research also suggests that negative emotions mediate a portion of the discrimination—deviance link. The present study extends this work and examines not only a social stressor that may lead to deviance, but also cultural adaptations to such structural stress in the form of racial socialization practices and how such practices may moderate the deviance-fomenting effects of racial discrimination. Two forms of caregiver racial socialization are examined: cultural socialization and preparation for bias. I hypothesize that higher levels of racial socialization will compensate for and/or buffer the deleterious effects of discrimination on negative emotions and deviance. African American youths who have been taught about the realities of racial relations in America as well as strategies for coping with racist experiences might be better equipped to deal with the negative emotional and cognitive effects of experiencing discrimination. In the same vein, African American youths who are exposed to African American culture and history who share the successes and supports of the Black community might be better equipped to deal with racist events. I test these hypotheses using self-reports of discrimination from a sample of approximately seven hundred African American youths and their primary caregivers over three waves of data. Results suggest that racial socialization practices are factors that provide resilience against discrimination by diminishing some of its negative effects. Specifically, I find that caregivers’ preparation for bias inculcates competencies that diminish deviant responses to racial discrimination. Cultural socialization, while not diminishing the effects of racial discrimination on distress or deviance, apparently engenders general competencies relevant for adaptive functioning, including decreased distress and deviance. While further research is needed to replicate these findings, the results reported herein represent an important contribution to the literature on patterns of distress and deviance in response to racial discrimination. Among a diverse sample of African American adolescents, racial socialization influences patterns of deviance. INDEX WORDS: Racial discrimination, Deviance, Racial socialization, Crime, Stress, Parenting DISCRIMINATION AND DEVIANCE: RACIAL SOCIALIZATION MATTERS by CALLIE HARBIN BURT B.A., The University of Georgia, 2002 M.A., The University of Georgia, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 CALLIE HARBIN BURT All Rights Reserved DISCRIMINATION AND DEVIANCE: RACIAL SOCIALIZATION MATTERS by CALLIE HARBIN BURT Major Professor: Ronald L. Simons Committee: Mark Cooney Leslie G. Simons Jody Clay-Warner Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2009 iv DEDICATION To my family: thank you for everything. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to all of you who made this a satisfying, mostly pleasurable, and challenging endeavor. My special thanks to Ron Simons for his mentoring. I have learned more from him than I even know, and I am very grateful for both the opportunities and support that he has provided. Also thanks for always giving me advice and support respectfully and with a smile. Thanks to Leslie Simons for her generous practical and emotional support. I am grateful to my committee members, including the aforementioned as well as Mark Cooney and Jody Clay-Warner, whose excellent suggestions have improved this study and whose advice and wisdom have made me a better sociologist and scientist. I am grateful to all of the people that work on the FACHS project and who have and continue to compile and organize such an excellent data set, especially the PI’s: Ron Simons, Rick Gibbons, and Carolyn Cutrona. Thanks also to Yi-fu Chen for his patience and multiple favors. To the FACHS participants, who graciously devote their time to answer many and sensitive questions about their lives. Thanks to those of you in the Sociology Department. I have been fortunate to find several excellent professors as well as invaluable staff who have aided me in numerous ways. A special thanks to Kathy Lou and April Brown who facilitated the completion of this project from a great distance from Baldwin Hall. Turning to official acknowledgements, this project was undertaken with the support of a Phelps-Stokes Graduate Fellowship for 2007-2008 school year. This research was also supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48165, MH62669) and the Center for Disease Control (029136-02). Additional funding for this project was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. vi Lastly, I am indebted to my family. To my partner, Tanja Link; thank you for many things, but perhaps most importantly for this project reminding me that the perfect is invariably the enemy of both the good and the great. Thanks too for all the chores and activities that you have done for me, which allowed me to devote more time to my studies, and for your thoughtful comments, editorial corrections, and much more. Because of you, Tanja, I have both a dissertation and a rich life. And, to my parents, Bubba and Nancy Burt, thank you for all that you have done for me and continue to do. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION..................................................................................................6 3 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND DEVIANCE.............................................................25 4 RACIAL SOCIALIZATION AS A RESILIENCE FACTOR...........................................37 5 PROPOSED MODEL..............................................................................................................51 6 METHODS..................................................................................................................................54 7 RESULTS.....................................................................................................................................71 8 DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................106 9 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................128 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................134 APPENDICES ..............................................................................................................................................169 A MEASURE OF PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION........................................................169 B MEASURES OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION..................................................................170 viii C NEGATIVE BINOMIAL MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON THE LINK BETWEEN DISCRIMINATION AND ANGER ..............................................................................171 D NEGATIVE BINOMIAL MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON THE LINK BETWEEN DISCRIMINATION AND DEPRESSION ..................................................................172 E TOBIT MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON THE LINK BETWEEN ANGER AND DEVIANCE...173 F TOBIT MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON THE LINK BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND DEVIANCE ........................................................................................................................174 G GRAPH DEPICTING THE MARGINAL EFFECT OF DISCRIMINATION ON NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ACROSS LEVELS OF PREPARATION FOR BIAS FOR FEMALES ..................................................................................................................175 H NEGATIVE BINOMIAL MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON CRIME..........................................176 I TOBIT MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON SUBSTANCE USE .................................................................177 J TOBIT MODELS EXAMINING THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF RACIAL SOCIALIZATION ON RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR ............................................178 ix LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Youth Experiences with Discrimination.......................................................................................90