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Margaret O'Brien Caughy, ScD, Patricia J. O'Campo, PhD and Carles Muntaner, MD, PhD

Margaret O’Brien Caughy is with the Houston School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Dallas. At the time of this research, Patricia J. O’Campo was with the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Md, and Carles Muntaner was with the Department of Family and Community Health, School of Nursing, and the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Margaret O’Brien Caughy, University of Texas School of Public Health, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-9129 (email: margaret.caughy{at}utsouthwestern.edu).

Objectives. We examined the relationship between parents’ experiences of racism and children’s well-being and the influence of the residential neighborhood characteristics on this relationship.

Methods. African American families were recruited from Baltimore neighborhoods. Parental measures included racism experiences and coping. Neighborhood measures included demographic characteristics, social cohesion, and social climate. Children’s mental health was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist. Analysis was performed with multilevel modeling.

Results. Parents who denied experiences of racism also reported higher rates of behavior problems among their preschool-aged children. For families living in neighborhoods characterized by fear of victimization, parents who actively coped with racism experiences by confronting the person involved or taking some sort of action in response to racism reported lower rates of anxiety and depression for their preschool-aged children.

Conclusions. Experiences of and responses to racism among African American parents have important effects on the well-being of their young children.

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