Opportunity and child rearing: Relations among perceptions of society, socialization goals, and socialization attitudes in African American parents.

Abstract

Parents' perceptions of and experiences within society long have been considered important influences on their socialization goals and behaviors. Researchers have suggested that systematic differences in parental perceptions and experiences result in socioeconomic- and race-based differences in parenting. The present study explores the relations among opportunity perceptions, socialization goals, and socialization attitudes in a sample of 82 African American parents of high school-aged children. Its central objective is to examine whether opportunity perceptions predict a variety of child-rearing characteristics, including the perceived importance of child competencies, educational aspirations and expectations, and parenting behaviors. Logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted to examine associations among opportunity perceptions, parental background, parental experiences and child rearing. The results of logistic regression analyses indicate that opportunity perceptions predict parents' attitudes towards a variety of non-mainstream child competencies. In particular, parents who perceive less opportunity place greater emphasis on their child developing social skills. The predicted positive association between perceptions of opportunity and attitudes towards mainstream competencies receives somewhat limited support. Only the perception that one's family members faced few barriers to success is associated with more positive attitudes toward grades. Results of linear multiple regression analyses indicate that optimistic opportunity perceptions are associated with higher level educational aspirations and expectations for children. Higher levels of perceived job racism, on the other hand, are associated with the belief that education is less useful. Finally, limited evidence from linear regression analyses suggests that opportunity perceptions also predict parenting behaviors. Parents who perceive that institutional racism is more prevalent are less likely to endorse statements reflecting permissive parenting. The findings suggest that, in general, these parents highly value a variety of child competencies. Except for parental attitudes towards grades, there is little indication that attitudes towards mainstream competencies are negatively impacted by pessimistic opportunity perceptions. This finding, along with results indicating that perceptions of more limited opportunity are associated with positive attitudes toward non-mainstream competencies, suggests that parents who perceive a more restrictive opportunity structure may attempt to prepare their children by encouraging them to develop a relatively wide range of skills and qualities.