(PS1-74) The Protective Role of Parent Racial Socialization for Black Adolescents with Elevated ADHD Symptoms

Background. Parental socialization is an umbrella term referring to a range of direct and indirect behaviors that influence child development and well-being (Martinez-Escudero et al., 2020). Parental emotion socialization, which entails the communication, behavioral practices, and instructions that parents give their children around emotions (Brand & Klimes-Dougan, 2010), have been linked to social-emotional and mental health outcomes in adolescents, including among various clinical populations (see Breaux et al, 2022). Similarly, racial socialization (RS)— which entails socialization by minoritized racial/ethnic parents to their children about race, including topics about their identities, the social stigma associated with their race, and methods to combat bias and discrimination associated with it (Hughes et al., 2015)—has been linked to mental health outcomes such as less depression and anxiety, better self-esteem, and protection against racial discrimination and bias. (Reynolds & Gonzales-Backen, 2017). 

Research has found that parental emotion socialization is particularly critical for youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Breaux et al., 2018; McQuade et al., 2017, 2021; Oddo et al., 2022; Smit et al., 2022), a population at-risk for negative mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, and conduct problems during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Agnew-Blais et al., 2018). However, RS has not been explored among Black youth with ADHD. As such, this study explored whether ADHD symptoms moderated the association between RS and adolescent mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, anger, aggression) among Black youth. 

Methods. Participants included 52 adolescents ages 16-25 years (M = 21.6; 65.4% female) who identified as Black and participated in an online research study examining experiences with trauma and predictors of resilience among Black youth. Participants were recruited through Qualtrics’ market research panels. Measures included the Teenage Experience of Racial Socialization Scale, ADHD Self-Report Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 item, Affective Reactivity Index, and Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. 

Results. At the bivariate level and in multiple regression analyses, RS was not significantly related to any of the four mental health outcome variables. However, a significant interaction between proactive RS and ADHD symptoms emerged in predicting depression symptoms. Probing this interaction revealed that for adolescents with high ADHD symptoms (12 symptoms; b = -.35, p< .01) this association was significant suggesting that parental RS is protective for this at-risk clinical population, whereas this relation was non-significant for adolescents with low or moderate ADHD symptoms (2 and 6 symptoms: b = .02, p = .80 and b = -.13, p = .06). 

Discussion. Findings add to the growing literature suggesting that adolescents with ADHD are particularly susceptible to the influences of parental socialization, with RS being protective against depression symptoms in Black youth. Poster will discuss clinical implications and potential explanations for the null findings for other outcomes.