Release date: February 24, 2025
Racial socialization competency refers to a parent’s or caregiver’s ability to communicate with their kids about race and to impart strategies for coping with racial discrimination, and the research shows that higher levels of competency are associated with better outcomes for Black children and youth. For this third Black History Month episode of Talking About Kids, I asked Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson to explain racial socialization competency, its components, and how it can be developed. Riana is an Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and the developer of the EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) program, racial socialization skills training for parent and caregivers. More information about Riana and the EMBRace program is below.
Biography of Riana Elyse Anderson
Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson is an Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work. She earned her PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Virginia and completed a Clinical and Community Psychology Residency at Yale University's School of Medicine and a Fellowship in Applied Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. On the whole, Dr. Anderson aims to facilitate healing in Black families with practical applications of her research and clinical services, as well as through public engagement, teaching, mentorship, and policy recommendations. Dr. Anderson uses mixed methods to study discrimination and racial socialization in Black families and apply her findings to help families reduce their racial stress. She is particularly interested in how family-based interventions help to improve Black youth’s psychosocial well-being and health-related behaviors. Dr. Anderson is the developer and director of the EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) intervention and CEO and Founder of RACE Space Inc., and loves to translate her work for a variety of audiences, particularly those whom she serves in the community, via blogs, video, and literary articles. Additionally, for her early career accomplishments, Dr. Anderson has been the recipient of over twenty awards, including national awards from APA, APS, APF, SRA, SRCD, and FABBS. Finally, Dr. Anderson was born in, raised for, and returned to Detroit and is becoming increasingly addicted to cake pops.
Links
Riana Elyse Anderson
Riana Elyse Anderson's faculty page
EMBRace Program
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