| Abstract: | Researchers during the past 40 years have infrequently disentangled the relationship between young black children's personal identity and group identity, generally treating them in an undifferentiated manner. Investigators suggest that impersonal agents determine young black children's white-biased cultural values, usually ignoring the influence of parental child-rearing strategies. Findings from three studies in the Midwest, North, and South document that preschool children show consistently Eurocentric (white-biased) choice behavior; the trend for most attitudes and preferences changes to an Afrocentric orientation during middle childhood. Parental interviews obtained from a subsample of Southern parents offer alternative interpretations of these choice patterns; values transmitted (e.g., teaching children about civil rights and racial discrimination) predict children's Afrocentric racial attitudes and preferences. |
