An Exploratory Study of Ethnic Differences in Parent Cultural Socialization Practices and Children’s Experiences of Peer Ethnic Victimization

Abstract

Research suggests that visible ethnic minority parents engage in cultural socialization practices and that visible ethnic minority children experience peer ethnic victimization more often than ethnic majority Caucasian children. Limited research has assessed ethnic differences in the construct validity and psychometric properties of measures assessing parent cultural socialization practices and peer ethnic victimization. This study examines ethnic differences in the construct validity and psychometric properties (reliabilities, mean levels) of these measures and in the associations between these constructs. Participants included 439 kindergarten to third-grade children and 275 of their parents from diverse ethnic groups. The constructs showed adequate construct validity across the overall visible ethnic minority and ethnic majority Caucasian groups. However, reliability was low at some waves for some ethnic groups. Relative to other ethnic groups, Southeast/East and West/South Asian parents engaged in more frequent cultural socialization practices and Black/African Canadian children experienced higher levels of peer ethnic victimization.