From Screen to Socialization: White Family Conversations about Transracial Adoption

From an entertainment education perspective, television and film are influential sources of learning as they model diverse family forms, such as transracially adoptive families. As these families grow in frequency in the United States and in their media representation, families’ discussions of transracial adoption can be seen as an increasingly salient component of parents’ ethnic-racial socialization with children. This study qualitatively explores White, biological, parent-teen conversations about transracial adoption following the co-viewing of three transracial adoption portrayals. Topical themes addressed in these conversations included media’s salience, racial ideologies, and views on the transracial adoption experience. Results demonstrate the relevance of entertainment education and transracial adoption portrayals within ethnic-racial socialization conversations and provide insight for parents to more critically consume racial media content with their teens.