Engaging White Parents to Address Their White Children’s Racial Biases in the Black-White Context

Multiple studies (n=1065 parents, 625 female, 437 male, 3 nonbinary, 99.06% White; n=80 5–7-year-old children, 35 girls, 45 boys, 87.50% White) investigated how White U.S. parents think about White children’s Black-White racial biases. In Studies 1–3, parents reported that their own and other children would not express racial biases. When predicting children’s social preferences for Black and White children (Study 2), parents underestimated their own and other children’s racial biases. Reading an article about the nature, prevalence, and consequences of White children’s racial biases (Study 3), increased parents’ awareness of, concern about, and motivation to address children’s racial biases (relative to a control condition). The findings have implications for engaging White parents to address their White children’s racial biases.