Beyond What, to How: Different Ways African American Adolescents Receive Ethnic and Racial Socialization Messages

Objectives: Modes of transmission (MOT) of message content reveal nuances about how ethnic socialization and racial socialization occur. This study shifts the focus beyond "what" messages adolescents receive from caregivers to include "how" messages are communicated about ethnicity and race. Method: African American adolescents (N = 55, 72% female, M-age = 16.8) participated in semistructured interviews that were analyzed with theory-driven content analysis and quantitative procedures to derive patterns from the data. Results: Various forms of verbal and nonverbal MOT were discussed by adolescents. Two patterns of associations between MOT and message content were found: Ethnic content was conveyed more often through nonverbal MOT, whereas racial content occurred more often through verbal MOT. These patterns were revealed at both the response and individual levels. Conclusions: This study links the expression aspect of MOT with ethnic and racial content in interviews that highlight teenagers' voices about how verbal and nonverbal messages about ethnicity and race are received. Further research that examines MOT in relation to message content will provide fuller awareness of ethnic and racial socialization processes.