African American Resiliency: Examining Racial Socialization and Social Support as Protective Factors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative importance of racial socialization and social support in the resiliency of African Americans. It was hypothesized that social support and racial socialization would predict the resiliency of 154 African American undergraduate students at a large midwestern university. They completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS), the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale (TERS), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Findings from hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that receiving racial socialization messages and perceiving that one had social support accounted for the largest proportion of variance in resiliency scores. Implications for parents and mental health providers are discussed.