SOCIALIZATION, BLACK SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN AND THE COLOR CASTE HIERARCHY (SOCIAL COGNITION, PSYCHOLOGY, NURSING).

摘要

The purpose of the descriptive research was to investigate the relationship between an adherence to the Black community's belief and value system about Black skin tones and Black school-age children's skin tone preferences and perceptions of occupational life opportunities. Six Black skin tones were scaled via Thurstone's method of paired comparisons and the law of comparative judgment. The result was an interval level Skin Tone Scale on which the skin tones were positioned from most to least preferred by the children. The most preferred skin tones ranged from medium to honey brown. The least preferred were the extreme tones of very light yellow and very dark brown. Data collection was accomplished with the Porter Skin Tone Connotation Scale (PSTCS). The instrument was constructed from the forced choice preference paradigm. Data were obtained from a volunteer sample of 98 Black school-age children who resided in a city in Arizona. Data collection and analyses were constructed to test two hypotheses: (1) Black school-age children's skin tone classifications for differential status occupations will be related to gender, age, and perception of own skin tone as indexed by the skin tone values of the Skin Tone Scale, and (2) with increasing age, Black school-age children's skin tone preferences will be more systematically related to the skin tone values of the Skin Tone Scale. Testing of the first hypothesis with multiple regression indicated that the independent variables did not account for enough variance to support the hypothesis. Analysis of the second hypothesis with coefficient gamma suggested a trend toward more systematic agreement with the Skin Tone Scale with increasing age. Results of the first hypothesis were discussed in relation to composition of the sample, gender differences, the achievement value of the Black sociocultural system, and these Black children's lived experience. Results of the second hypothesis reflected those from similar investigations conducted in the 1940s. The results suggested Black children still most prefer brown skin tones and least prefer extreme light and dark skin tones. Black children's preferences for Black skin tones have not altered in approximately forty years.