Racial discrimination is commonplace among racial minority individuals, including adolescents, who report experiencing discrimination in their everyday lives. These experiences can put youth at risk for negative health and psychological outcomes. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) perspectives, this study qualitatively explored the perceived discrimination experiences and responses of Black middle school students, as well as parental racial socialization practices, as previous research has found this to be related to perceived discrimination and racial identity among children and adolescents. The study used a phenomenological approach to understand the unique perspectives of nine Black adolescents in middle school and their parents. The findings confirmed that the youth experienced both direct and vicarious discrimination during this developmental period in multiple forms, across settings, and from different sources. In addition, adolescent responses highlighted developmental and adaptive challenges involved in responding to discrimination. Findings revealed direct and indirect socialization practices used by parents to prevent these experiences, or to help their children navigate them in order to promote positive racial identity development and reduce negative outcomes. Connections were also found between discriminatory experiences, socialization, and racial identity. Implications of these findings for parents, educators, and researchers are discussed.
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