One Talk at a Time: A Racial-ethnic Socialization Intervention for Diverse Families (OTAAT)

One Talk at a Time: A Racial-ethnic Socialization Intervention for Diverse Families to Reduce Psychosocial Inequalities

This study is a randomized effectiveness trial that tests the online delivery of a video-based intervention (One Talk at a Time (OTAAT)) relative to a control group over a one-year span. Hypotheses include: 1.) The OTAAT intervention will increase parental motivation to engage in racial-ethnic socialization (RES) conversations, their skills and confidence in having these conversations, and the frequency and quality of these conservations; 2.) The OTAAT intervention will increase youth reports of their coping with discrimination, perceived efficacy in coping with discrimination in the future, ethnic-racial identity, and youth mental and academic outcomes; 3.) Greater parental discrimination and youth discrimination will moderate links between OTAAT intervention and parental ethnic-racial motivation + competency as well as youth ethnic-racial identity, coping, and psychosocial outcomes.

This study will employ a mixed methods longitudinal randomized control trial design. All parents and youth will be assessed at four time points (Baseline, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month) using surveys. Investigators will also use an observational racial-ethnic socialization (RES) task at 3-months to complement self-report data where parents and youth will have taped RES conversations. Investiagtors will collect data with two balanced cohorts (Cohort 1 and Cohort 2). Parent-youth dyads (N=312) will be recruited through community-based organizations and diverse, public middle schools to reach a representative population of each racial-ethnic group. Specific recruitment procedures are included below. Once an identified parent-youth dyad is recruited into the study, parents and youth will complete separate Qualtrics baseline surveys online. Parents will then receive either the intervention or the control materials via email or text within 2 weeks (and be given a month to start intervention). OTAAT consists of 11 videos (3-5 minutes each) that include didactic modules and social modeling. The total intervention takes approximately 1.5-2 hours to complete online, and parents can move through the videos at their own pace. The control condition will receive web-based communication materials onsite, including communication videos. Subsequent research follow-ups will occur at 3-months, 6-months, and 12-months with both parents and youth via Qualtrics. After the initial intervention, parents will receive 6 additional OTAAT contacts via text messages/newsletters that will be spread out across the year with contacts at 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 10 months after the initial intervention. These contacts will include a short survey assessing the use of Ready, Set, Talk skills and setting times for having RES conversations. Parents in the control condition will similarly receive text messages/newsletters at the same time points. At 3-month follow-up, parents and youth will also complete a video-recorded RES observational task via a virtual platform or in-person depending on family preference. During the observational task, parents and their children will be asked to spend five minutes discussing four discrimination encounters. During these conversations, parents will be asked to talk to their child about race and culture as they would at home in a natural manner. The task will take approximately 25-30 minutes to complete.

Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety Disorders and Symptoms, Behavioral Symptoms, Ethnic-Racial Socialization

Ethnic-racial socialization, Race, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Diverse families, Cultural socialization, Preparation for bias, Culture, Parent-Child communication

This group will receive a curriculum focused on tips and strategies for navigating difficult topics with one's children such as current events and dating.

This intervention consists of short videos that include didactic modules and social modeling for having conversations with children about race, ethnicity, culture, and discrimination. The total intervention takes approximately 1.5-2 hours to complete online, and parents can move through the videos at their own pace.

This intervention consists of short videos that include modules and handouts with tips for parent-child communication strategies for navigating difficult topics, such as dating and current events.

The study will use an adapted version of the Motivation to Change measure (Miller & Johnson, 2008) to assess parental motivation to engage in racial-ethnic socialization with their children.

The study will use the Racial Socialization Competency Scale (RaSCS; Anderson et al., 2019) to measure parental-perceived skill in delivering racial-ethnic socialization messages

The study will use a recently developed scale (under review) that assesses how confident parents feel delivering racial-ethnic socialization messages

Youth's use of coping strategies will be measured using the Discrimination Coping Strategies Scale (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2008)

Frequency of cultural socialization messages will be measured using the cultural socialization subscale of the Ethnic-Racial Socialization Scale (Hughes & Chen, 1997). The measure will be adapted to measure frequency over the last 3 months rather than year.

Frequency of preparation for bias messages will be measured using the preparation for bias subscale of the Ethnic-Racial Socialization Scale (Hughes & Chen, 1997). The measure will be adapted to measure frequency over the last 3 months rather than year.

Quality of cultural socialization messages will be assessed during observational coding of parent-child discussions around scenarios describing experiences of discrimination. Coding will be based on Smith Bynum et al.'s (2016) scale.

Quality of preparation for bias messages will be assessed during observational coding of parent-child discussions around scenarios describing experiences of discrimination. Coding will be based on Smith Bynum et al.'s (2016) scale.

Youth's current depressive symptoms will be measured using the PROMIS Pediatric Short-Form of Depressive Symptoms (Irwin et al., 2010)

Youth's current anxiety symptoms will be measured using the PROMIS Pediatric Short-Form of Anxiety Symptoms (Irwin et al., 2010)

Youth's racial-ethnic identity will be assessed using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure Sladeck et al., 2020)

Youth's racial-ethnic exploration will be assessed with the Ethnic Identity Scale (Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015)

Inclusion Criteria: Parent of a child between the ages of 11 and 13 Parental race/ethnicity either of East Asian, African American, Latinx (Central American) background Both parents are from the same pan-ethnic group Exclusion Criteria: N/A