Biography

Mia A. Smith-Bynum, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Family Science in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland. She is the current chair of the SRCD Black Caucus. A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Smith-Bynum is an expert in African American mental health, family interaction and communication in ethnic minority families, parenting, and racial socialization. She is co-author of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity for Black Americans. Dr. Smith-Bynum received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in child and family development at the University of Georgia. She spent almost 9 years at Purdue University, where she began her research on racial socialization in 2001. She joined the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland in 2010. Her research has been supported by NIMH and NICHD.

Website: https://spark.adobe.com/page/uUJjOeHp8pMy7/
Twitter: @drmiasmithbynum

A Theory of Racial Socialization in Action: Black Families and The Power of Observational Methods

Session Type: Invited Talk

Abstract

Racism remains a pernicious and harmful force in the lives of Black youth and their families. Over generations, the dilemma of Black parenting has been how to raise confident, well-adjusted Black children in a country that continues to devalue their humanity. And how to do so without frightening them or embittering? Racial socialization research has focused on the content of parental communication about ways to negotiate life in the U.S as a Black person. A question in need of expanded attention, is how Black parents do it? What do these conversations and family interactions look like? And have we captured the universe of racial socialization with existing theory and approaches? Based on 19 years of observational research on racial socialization, I will present the Theory of Racial Socialization in Action for Black Families. I will present newly identified constructs and a reframe of racial socialization around its dyadic, communicative elements.

Sub Unit

• Invited Program

Moderator

• Emilie Phillips Smith, Michigan State University

Speaker

• Mia A. Smith-Bynum, University of Maryland - College Park

Introducer

• Leslie Anderson, University of Southern Mississippi