The dyadic link between color-evasiveness and racial socialization among Black-White interracial parents.

OBJECTIVE

Black-White interracial parents may face unique challenges when it comes to racially socializing their children. This study accounts for particular interdependent dynamics involved in racial socialization for Black-White interracial parents by examining the dyadic relationships between color-evasiveness and different forms of racial socialization (racial bias preparation [RBP], promotion of racial mistrust, and egalitarianism) while also investigating the moderating roles of parent race and gender.

METHOD: A sample of 114 Black-White interracial couples (N = 228, Mage = 33.29) recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk individually completed surveys on color-evasiveness and racial socialization.

RESULTS

Results of the actor-partner interdependence model (Kenny et al., 2006) revealed significant actor and partner relations between color-evasiveness and all three forms of racial socialization. Parent race significantly moderated both actor and partner relations involving RBP and racial mistrust, while parent race and gender significantly moderated the actor relations involving RBP.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that White parents' with strong color-evasiveness reported less socialization that explicitly addressed racism, whereas Black parents reported more RBP and racial mistrust when their partners endorsed higher color-evasiveness. Although all mothers with strong color-evasiveness endorsed less RBP, this relationship was significantly stronger for White mothers. Implications for dyadic-focused research and clinical practice specific to interracial parents are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).