Predictors of U.S. caregivers' discussion of identity-related cultural moments with their children

Cultural and sociopolitical events shape the developmental contexts within which children form understandings of identity, justice, and belonging. Parents and primary caregivers are often intermediaries between the child and macrosystem events. Guided by relational developmental systems and positive youth development frameworks, this study examines predictors of caregiver-child conversations about six major U.S. cultural moments that garnered widespread national attention and centered questions of identity, rights, and intergroup relations for historically marginalized groups: the Marriage Equality Act (2015), the Muslim Ban (2017), the #MeToo movement (2017), family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border (2018), the Black Lives Matter movement (2020), and anti-trans legislation (2021). Using actual and hypothetical retrospective, cross-sectional survey data collected in 2021 from a sample of 304 U.S. caregivers ( M age = 35.9 years), participants reported on six cultural moments, reflecting either discussions they had at the time or how they would approach these topics with their child. Caregiver advocacy, warmth, personal impact, and comfort discussing issues predicted engagement, though patterns varied by topic. Advocacy was a consistent predictor across movements, while comfort with discussing the topic was more relevant for family separation and the Muslim Ban. Black Lives Matter and anti-trans legislation socialization were predicted by personal impact. Findings support a domain-specific model of sociopolitical socialization given how factors predicting family conversations differ depending on the nature of the issue. By situating caregiver-child dialogue within the relational frameworks, this study highlights how families serve as micro-level contexts where youth interpret and engage with macro-level events and topics.