Negative emotionality and discipline as long-term predictors of behavioral outcomes in African American and European American children.

In 1839, several white Quaker women in Providence, Rhode Island, founded the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans; they sought to take in the city’s orphans. During the first years of operation, dozens of African American parents admitted and withdrew their children from the Association. The vast majority of the children admitted had living parents or were paid boarders. In 1846, the Association incorporated as the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Children with an enlarged mission to provide for the support and education of black children. During the final collapse of slavery in Rhode Island, black parents transformed an orphanage into an institution that also offered short- and long-term care and education for wards and boarders. In doing so, they expanded the work of white reformers from raising African American children to supporting their needs as working parents.

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Emotion regulation strategies and later externalizing behavior among European American and African American children

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579409000224 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 393-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Lauren H. Supplee ◽

Emily Moye Skuban ◽

Daniel S. Shaw ◽

Joanna Prout

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

African American ◽

Low Income ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Delay Of Gratification ◽

European American ◽

Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽

Differential Outcomes ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

American Children

AbstractChildren's early emotion regulation strategies (ERS) have been related to externalizing problems; however, most studies have included predominantly European American, middle-class children. The current study explores whether ERS use may have differential outcomes as a function of the mother's ethnic culture. The study utilizes two diverse samples of low-income male toddlers to examine observed ERS during a delay of gratification task in relation to maternal and teacher reports of children's externalizing behavior 2 to 6 years later. Although the frequencies of ERS were comparable between ethnic groups in both samples, the use of physical comfort seeking and self-soothing was positively related to African American children's later externalizing behavior but negatively related to externalizing behavior for European American children in Sample 1. Data from Sample 2 appear to support this pattern for self-soothing in maternal, but not teacher, report of externalizing behavior. Within group differences by income were examined as a possible explanatory factor accounting for the ethnic differences, but it was not supported. Alternative explanations are discussed to explain the pattern of findings.

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White Bias in 3–7-Year-Old Children across Cultures

Journal of Cognition and Culture ◽

10.1163/15685373-12342155 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (3-4) ◽

pp. 344-373 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bentley Gibson ◽

Erin Robbins ◽

Philippe Rochat

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

African American ◽

Skin Color ◽

The United States ◽

European American ◽

African American Children ◽

Significant Preference ◽

Report Data ◽

American Children ◽

Racially Mixed

In three studies we report data confirming and extending the finding of a tendency toward a White preference bias by young children of various ethnic backgrounds. European American preschoolers who identify with a White doll also prefer it to a Black doll. In contrast, same age African American children who identify with a Black doll do not show a significant preference for it over a White doll. These results are comparable in African American children attending either a racially mixed (heterogeneous), or an Afro-centric, all African American (homogenous) preschool. These results show the persistence of an observation that contributed to school de-segregation in the United States. Results also reveal a lack of congruence between skin color identity and preference is not limited to African Americans. There is a comparable, if not stronger White preference bias in five to seven-year-old Polynesian and Melanesian children tested in their native island nations. Using a modified procedure controlling for binary forced choice biases, we confirm these findings with second generation American children of Indian descent showing clear signs of a White (lighter skin preference) bias. These results are consistent with the idea that during the preschool years children are sensitive and attracted to signs of higher social status that, for historical reasons and across cultures, tends to be associated with lighter skin color.

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