UCR U NDERGRADUATE R ESEARCH J OURNAL 53 Love a Son, Raise a Daughter: A Cross-Sectional Examination of African American Mothers’ Parenting Styles James M. Telesford 1, 2 , Carolyn B. Murray 1 1 Department of Psychology, 2 Department of Sociology University of California, Riverside AUTHOR James M. Telesford Psychology and Sociology James Telesford is a graduating senior with a double major in Psychology and Sociology. His broad research interests include racism, discrimination, stereo- types, and institutional influences on cognition. Currently, he is completing his Honors thesis for the University Honors Program. His thesis focuses on African American mother/child dynamics, spe- cifically, examining the stereotype that the “African American mother ‘loves’ her son but ‘raises’ her daughter.” He hopes to further pursue his research in graduate school. He thanks his fac- ulty mentor for her unwavering support and guidance, and his parents for their unconditional love and support. ABSTRACT The primary focus of this study is to answer the question: “Do African American mothers ‘raise’ their daughters but ‘love’ their sons?” This element of Black folklore has been around for more than two decades, but it has little empirical evidence (Randolph, 1995). Indirect support for the belief is found in studies reporting that parents are more permissive with children of the opposite sex (Williams, 1988). As part of a larger four-year longitudinal project examining socialization and personality development inAfricanAmerican families, 94 mothers and their 7-year-old (n=26), 10-year-old (n=26), 13-year-old (n=23), or 16-year-old (n=19) daughters or sons were videotaped while discussing a topic upon which they disagreed but were directed to come to a consensus. Four raters assessed these dyads on the degree of warmth and control exhibited by the mothers. In addition, the children were examined to discover whether there were gender differences in the way they behaved with their mothers. While no evidence was found for the mothers behaving differently with their sons, there was clear evidence that boys behaved differently than girls with their mothers. FACULTY MENTOR Carolyn B. Murray Department of Psychology James Telesford, as a research assistant and Honors student for the past two years, has shown himself to be a serious, bright, and highly motivated researcher. In my capacity as his research mentor I exposed James to my data set that investigated African American (AA) family socialization practices. James carved out data to investigate whether mothers “raise” their daughters but “love” their sons. This element of AA parenting folklore has been in existence for more than two decades, but it has never been empirically verifed. The research procedures required mothers and their children to interact with each other while being videotaped. James’ thesis is unique in that interactions among African Americans are seldom studied and even more rarely videotaped. Most of the existing literature was collected via paper and pencil survey instruments, often retrospectively. James’ research should do much to enlighten psychologists and other professionals’ understanding of AA family communication. This can itself lead to greater appreciation for strengths within the AA family and to improved interventions when addressing problematic issues.