Do Adults Think Talking to Children about Race is Appropriate? Experimental Evidence of the Effects of Race, Age, and Messaging

Which factors shape adults' perceptions of the appropriateness of child-facing messaging about race? In an online survey, U.S. adults (N = 715 Black; N = 780 White; Mage = 47 y; 60% parents) read an interaction between a hypothetical parent and their child. The hypothetical child was described as a [Black/White] [5/13]-year-old. The parent conveyed either race-homogenizing (e.g. minimizing racial differences), multicultural (e.g. valuing racial diversity), or structural fairness (e.g. connecting fairness to laws) messaging about race. Participants perceived all of the messages to be appropriate (i.e. above the midpoint of the scale). Generally, Black participants rated messages as more appropriate than White participants, and participants rated all messages as more appropriate for 13-year-olds than 5-year olds. These effects were largest for messages that connected laws to fairness (i.e. structural fairness). There were few effects of the target child's race, including no target child race interactions.