Journal of Child and Family Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3, September 2004 ( C  2004), pp. 277–293 Towards Culturally Relevant Preventive Interventions: The Consideration of Racial Socialization in Parent Training with African American Families Stephanie I. Coard, Ph.D., 1,5 Scyatta A. Wallace, Ph.D., 2 Howard C. Stevenson, Jr., Ph.D., 3 and Laurie M. Brotman, Ph.D. 4 We present a rationale for the inclusion of culture-based parenting practices (i.e., racial socialization) in the design and implementation of empirically based par- enting programs with African American families. We begin with a discussion of the limitations of the current parent training literature related to cultural con- siderations. Second, we examine the cultural and racial contexts of parenting for African Americans, review the literature on racial socialization, and discuss em- pirical support for considering its inclusion in parent training programs. Third, we examine the extent to which racial socialization operates in low-income African American families by presenting the findings from a qualitative pilot. We conclude by discussing how findings from the qualitative pilot might inform intervention efforts. KEY WORDS: parent training; racial socialization; cultural relevance; African American families. Parenting practices are powerful early predictors of childhood conduct prob- lems. Children whose parents exhibit ineffective and harsh parenting practices, limited support for social competence, poor supervision, and modeling of an- tisocial behavior are at risk for developing conduct problems (Patterson, Reid & Dishion, 1992). The observed relation between specific positive parenting practices 1 Research Scholar, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC. 2 Postdoctoral Fellow, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Atlanta, GA. 3 Associate Professor, School, Community, and Clinical Child Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development Programs, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. 4 Associate Professor, Child Study Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. 5 Correspondence should be directed to Stephanie Irby Coard, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Box 90545, Durham, NC 27708-0545; e-mail: coard@duke.edu. 277 1062-1024/04/0900-0277/0 C  2004 Human Sciences Press, Inc.