Perceptions of Racism in Minority Children

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objectives of this project are: 1) to gain an understanding of the ways children of different ethnic minority backgrounds perceive, interpret, conceptualize, and process racism (racial discrimination and prejudice); 2) to utilize this information to create valid and reliable instruments for measuring perceptions of racism in minority children that will be based on developmental theory and will have salience for children of different ethnicities; and 3) to use these instruments in studies aimed at understanding the effects of perceived racism on the developmental competencies and behavioral health of minority children, as well as on the disparities in health and health care outcomes seen in minority populations. The initial phase of this project will utilize qualitative social science methodologies such as focus groups to gain insight into the development and understanding of prejudice and discrimination in African American, West Indian/Caribbean, Puerto Rican, and Anglo-European (majority) children of different age groups. From these data, questionnaire instruments will be developed that will be used to reliably measure perceptions of racism in children. Quantitative methodologies will be used for instrument construction (e.g., item and factor analysis) and in the testing of validity and reliability, as well as for the analysis of cross-cultural conceptual and metric equivalency (e.g., item response theory, consensus analysis). Separate instruments will be developed for different age groups and ethnicities. These instruments can then be used in future studies to determine the effects of racism (a psychosocial variable) on minority child behavioral health and development, as a stressor contributing to acute and chronic illness, as well as on health care and health services issues.