Critical theories and analyses of history suggest that white supremacy and anti-Black racism have long shaped U.S. society and that they will likely persist long into the future. The lived effects of racism for Black people span psychological injury, family stress, and stress-related physiological consequences. Given this context, psychologists must dedicate resources to better understanding protective factors against these harmful social forces for those who are negatively affected. Racial socialization (RS) has been found to be a promising means of supporting Black family dynamics and serve as a protective factor for Black children and adolescents. Notably, many Black families enact some version of RS, but the literature suggests that racial socialization competency is a measurable skill and protective factor. Thus, in recent years, there has been a scholarship push toward characterizing, measuring, quantifying, and theorizing RS competency. This paper seeks to illuminate several factors operating within Black families (i.e., general life stress, parental racial discrimination stress, parental racial worry, child behavior problems) alongside several sub-types of RS Competency: Confidence, Skills, General Stress, and "Call to Action" Stress. Rating scales completed by 360 Black parents provided the data for this study. Prior to statistical modeling, several rating scales were examined for psychometric properties to inform which items would serve as indicators for latent variables in an SEM. Prior to understanding the relationships between constructs, a theoretically driven structural equation model was proposed, developed, and statistically tested. A simplified version of the hypothesized model was identified as the best fitting model and was used to test hypotheses concerning the identified familial constructs. Many literature-based hypothesized relationships bore out in the data, with some notable exceptions. Racism-based distress for parents has a stronger predictive relationship to parental racial worry than does general life stress. Parental racial worry may serve as a motivating factor for RS Competency (RSC), rather than a hindrance. RSC Confidence is a stronger protective factor against child behavior problems than is RSC "Call to Action" Stress, but the difference is minor. Further, though stress-related subtypes of racial socialization competency do stem from some distress, they perform more similarly to strengths-focused racial socialization competency subtypes (i.e., confidence). This result supports the findings from previous research that find these subtypes of RSC to be distinct from one another while still strongly representing the overarching construct of racial socialization competency.The information gleaned in this study can be used in many ways. First, several racism-related rating scales were examined for their underlying psychometric properties. Strengths and weaknesses were detected with this sample, suggesting some potential adjustments of these instruments. Further, the results from operating the full SEM could guide the development or revision of RSC interventions. Lastly, future researchers may consider that fostering positive racial socialization in settings outside the home may serve the dual purpose of reinforcing this protective factor for Black youth while reducing the stress or strain of engaging in RS at home for Black parents. Additional interpretations, implications, limitations, and future directions for research are discussed.
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