White Adult Behavior Toward Black and White Children

COATES, BRIAN. White Adult Behavior toward Black and White Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 143-154. 24 male and 24 female white adults used verbal statements to train 9-year-old black or white male children on a discrimination problem. Bogus information on the children's performance was given to the adults and the dependent variable was the adults' statements to the children. A sex of adult x race of child interaction was found. Males were more negative with black children than with white children whereas there was a nonsignificant difference between the 2 races for females. On trait ratings of the children following the training session, both males and females rated black children more negatively than white children.