Black children's race awareness, racial attitudes and self-concept: a reinterpretation.
Results of a study of 130 black preschool children support the previous research finding that black preschoolers show majority group racial attitudes. Eighty percent of the sample obtained positive self-concept scores, while demonstrating pro-white biased cultural values on a racial attitude and preference measure. This significant finding is contrary to previous theorizing and consistent with recent data for a Southern sample (Spencer, 1982a). Few studies have empirically questioned this relationship, assuming less positive self-concepts of black children who have consistently shown pro-white cultural values. Race awareness affected majority group-preferenced racial attitudes. Results suggest that black preschool children effectively compartmentalize personal identity (i.e. self-concept) from knowledge of racial evaluations.
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification