Parental microprotections: Testing measurement equivalence in Black, Latinx, and White families

• Published date: 01 February 2024
• Author: Aryn M. Dotterer,Melissa Ferguson,Sarah Schwartz,Anthony G. James
• Date: 01 February 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12978

RESEARCH

Parental microprotections: Testing measurement

equivalence in Black, Latinx, and White families

Aryn M. Dotterer

1

|Melissa Ferguson

1

|Sarah Schwartz

1

|

Anthony G. James

2

1

Department of Human Development and

Family Studies, Utah State University,

Logan, UT

2

Department of Family Science and Social

Work, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Correspondence Aryn M. Dotterer,

Department of Human Development and

Family Studies, Utah State University, 2905

Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-2905, USA.

Email: aryn.dotterer@usu.edu

Abstract

Objective: This study examined measurement equivalence

of parental microprotections in Black, Latinx, and White

families.

Background: Microprotections refer to the small daily caring,

supportive, and loving behaviors Black parents engage in to

counteract the negative effects of racism and discrimination.

It is possible that this parenting practice applies to other fami-

lies in which adolescents are at risk for discrimination because

of social identities and/or membership in a stigmatized group

(e.g., Latinx adolescents, sexual minority adolescents).

Methods: Participants were parent–adolescent dyads

(N=395) from across the United States. Adolescents

were in Grades 9 through 12, and approximately one

third of the families identified as Black/African American

(n=131), one third as Hispanic/Latinx (n=132), and

one third as White (n=132).

Results: Measurement equivalence was evaluated through a

series of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Results

showed strict measurement invariance in parent reports of

parental microprotections across all three racial/ethnic

groups. Adolescent reports of mothers’microprotections

demonstrated strict measurement invariance and adolescent

reports of fathers’microprotections achieved configural

measurement invariance.

Conclusion: These results support the use of the Parental

Microprotections Scale in African American/Black, His-

panic/Latinx, and White families.

Implications: Parental microprotections are one way that

parents can nurture hope, happiness, and health despite

discrimination that adolescents may face. The Parental

Microprotections Scale may be useful for family science

practitioners and researchers who are interested in evaluat-

ing potential supports in adolescents and their families.

Received: 4 August 2022Revised: 10 October 2023Accepted: 24 October 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12978

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

578 Family Relations. 2024;73:578–594.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

KEYWORDS

cross-cultural issues, family processes, parent–adolescent relationships

Experiences of discrimination are a significant concern as discrimination thwarts healthy devel-

opment. It is widely acknowledged that children and adolescents experience various forms of

discrimination such as differential or unfair treatment that may be overt or more subtle as a

result of their membership in a social group or stigmatized identity including race/ethnicity,

gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental abilities, religion, country of birth, or socioeco-

nomic status (Brown & Bigler, 2005; Huynh et al., 2016; Smith & Pössel, 2022). For example,

Benner et al.’s (2018) meta-analysis reviewed 214 studies with more than 90,000 adolescents

and found greater perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination were linked to more depressive

symptoms and psychological distress; lower self-esteem; lower academic achievement and

engagement; less academic motivation; greater engagement in risky sexual behaviors and sub-

stance use; and more associations with deviant peers.

In addition to racial/ethnic discrimination, adolescents may also experience discrimination

based on their gender, physical or mental abilities, religion, country of birth, socioeconomic sta-

tus, and weight (Byrd & Andrews, 2016), which has also been linked to more depressive symp-

toms (Smith & Pössel, 2022). In the United States, antiimmigration sentiments and xenophobia

are associated with immigrant adolescents’experiences of marginalization and are linked to inter-

nalizing symptoms such as negative emotions, anxiety, and depression (Benner et al., 2018;Wray-

Lake et al., 2018). Research also indicates that prejudice and discrimination are associated with

negative mental health outcomes for sexual minority adolescents (Gower et al., 2021;Russell&

Fish, 2016). In addition to mistreatment related to one’s social identity or perceived identity, ado-

lescents also experience mistreatment related to their physical appearance including weight-based

bias. Hand et al. (2017) examined implicit attitudes regarding weight and found that more than

90% of participating high school students reported weight stigma (i.e., subconscious antifat bias).

A unique challenge for parents, is to engage in socialization that promotes the positive

development of their children in the face of such pervasive discrimination that may be overt or

subtle such as microaggressions (i.e., brief and commonplace derogatory indignities related to

one’s minority status). To buffer the negative effects of discrimination and microaggressions,

parents engage in “small daily caring, supportive, and loving behaviors (as interpreted by the

child),”referred to as microprotections (James, 2016, p. 2). Although James (2016) conceived of

microprotections in the context of Black youth and parenting, the concept of microprotections

may be useful in measuring daily acts of support that promote resilience in other minoritized

groups that have less power and privilege in society based on their social identities. In the pre-

sent study, we tested measurement equivalence of parental microprotections, which may be one

way that parents nurture hope, happiness, and health despite the threat of discrimination.

SUPPORTIVE PARENTING IN THE CONTEXT OF DISCRIMINATION

The need for parents to promote their children’s positive development in the context of discrim-

ination, is grounded in the relational developmental systems framework (Overton, 2015), which

acknowledges that development occurs within bidirectional person–environment interactions

within multiple levels of individual (e.g., psychological, physiological) and interpersonal

(e.g., family, peer, community) connections across time. Given this lens, contexts that are strati-

fied based on social identities and group membership will be particularly impactful for adoles-

cents with stigmatized identities. Parental microprotections focuses on meeting the emotional

needs of children/adolescents and is responsive to the “deep need our youth have to be loved,

PARENTAL MICROPROTECTIONS ACROSS RACE/ETHNICITY579