Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization (TERS)

Abstract

The Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization (TERS) is a psychological scale designed to measure the frequency with which Black adolescents receive race-related messages from their families, peers, and communities. Developed by Stevenson and colleagues (1996, 2002), the TERS instrument moves beyond simple parental messaging to capture the broader ecological context of racial socialization experiences encountered by youth. The scale helps researchers assess how often teenagers are exposed to specific themes related to cultural pride, coping with antagonism, awareness of discrimination, and endorsement of mainstream societal values, providing a nuanced perspective on the development of racial identity and resilience among African American youth.

Keywords

racial socialization, African American youth, cultural pride, discrimination, adolescence, psychometrics, coping, H. C. Stevenson, psychological scale, TERS.

Authors

H. C. Stevenson, J. Reed, P. Bodison, R. Cameron, T. Herrero-Taylor, G. Y. Davis.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization (TERS) scale is to quantify the frequency of exposure to various types of race-related messages among Black teenagers. This measurement is crucial for understanding how these messages—ranging from warnings about discrimination to reinforcement of cultural heritage—shape the adolescent’s worldview, psychological adjustment, and academic outcomes.

By assessing the frequency of these socialization experiences, the TERS allows for the differential analysis of message types. Researchers can utilize the scale to determine which specific messages (e.g., those promoting pride versus those warning of barriers) are most prevalent in the lives of specific groups of teenagers and how these experiences correlate with mental health and resilience variables.

Construct

The TERS measures the broad construct of racial socialization, which refers to the process by which individuals transmit information, values, and perspectives about race and ethnicity. The instrument is structured around five primary factors, which can be combined into two overarching composite constructs:

• Cultural Coping with Antagonism (CCA): Measures messages emphasizing spiritual or collective strategies for dealing with racial adversity and societal struggles.
• Cultural Pride Reinforcement (CPR): Measures messages promoting positive self-regard, self-efficacy, and pride in being Black.
• Cultural Appreciation of Legacy (CAL): Measures messages focusing on the importance of Black history, heritage, and the reality of past and present racism.
• Cultural Alertness to Discrimination (CAD): Measures messages that explicitly warn about the existence of racial barriers, inequality, and the necessity of working harder than whites to succeed.
• Cultural Endorsement of the Mainstream (CEM): Measures messages that reflect an assimilationist viewpoint, such as believing American society is fair or that exposure to majority-White environments is beneficial.

The five factors are further grouped into two composite constructs: Proactive Racial Socialization Experience (PRSE), which is a summative construct of the first four factors (CCA, CPR, CAL, CAD), focusing on messages that actively prepare youth for a racialized society; and Adaptive Racial Socialization Experience (ARSE), which reflects the total scale and encompasses all five factors, representing the teenager’s overall engagement with race-related messaging.

Validity

Validation studies, particularly those conducted by Stevenson (1994, 2002), supported the multidimensional structure of the TERS, demonstrating that racial socialization is not a monolithic construct but rather comprises distinct dimensions. The validation process, detailed in publications such as the 1994 article in the Journal of Black Psychology, confirmed that the scale items adequately map onto the proposed theoretical constructs, providing evidence of construct validity for measuring race-related socialization frequency from the perspective of Black youth.

The specific differentiation between the subscales—such as the separation of Cultural Pride Reinforcement from Cultural Alertness to Discrimination—highlights the scale’s ability to capture varied and sometimes conflicting messages received by adolescents, strengthening its empirical utility in psychological research.

Reliability

The TERS demonstrates strong internal consistency, particularly for the major composite factors. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients reported for the subscales and composite factors are as follows:

• Cultural Coping with Antagonism (CCA): .85–.89
• Cultural Pride Reinforcement (CPR): .81–.83
• Cultural Appreciation of Legacy (CAL): 0.73–0.77
• Cultural Alertness to Discrimination (CAD): .76–0.81
• Cultural Endorsement of the Mainstream (CEM): .64–.71

The composite scales show excellent reliability, indicating high internal consistency across the broader domains:

• Proactive Racial Socialization Experience (PRSE): .92–.94
• Adaptive Racial Socialization Experience (ARSE): .93–.94

These values indicate that the TERS generally provides reliable measures of the frequency of racial socialization experiences, with the composite scores demonstrating particularly robust consistency.

Factor Analysis

The TERS structure is rooted in factor analysis that identified five primary, correlated factors representing distinct domains of racial socialization messages received by teenagers. These factors were empirically derived to ensure that they reflect the multidimensional nature of race-related communication within African American families and communities.

The organization of items into these factors is crucial for interpretation:

• Cultural Coping with Antagonism (CCA): Items 3, 5, 6, 8, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 31, 37.
• Cultural Pride Reinforcement (CPR): Items 9, 11, 12, 23, 24, 30, 32, 33, 40.
• Cultural Appreciation of Legacy (CAL): Items 4, 7, 14, 15, and 16.
• Cultural Alertness to Discrimination (CAD): Items 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 38.
• Cultural Endorsement of the Mainstream (CEM): Items 1, 2, 13, 17, 22, and 39.

The first four factors (CCA, CPR, CAL, CAD) constitute the Proactive Racial Socialization Experience (PRSE), reflecting messages that actively prepare the youth for a racially conscious life. The total scale score, Adaptive Racial Socialization Experience (ARSE), incorporates all five factors.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report frequency scale

Format: 40 items utilizing a 3-point Likert-style frequency response scale.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Black/African American

Age Group: Adolescents/Teenagers

Population Details: Developed and validated primarily using samples of African American adolescents.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the frequency of receiving specific race-related messages using the following scale: 1 = never, 2 = A few times, 3 = Lot of times. The scale assesses the experienced frequency of socialization rather than the subjective agreement with the content of the messages.

Keywords

TERS scale, racial socialization messages, adolescent psychology, cultural coping, racial identity development, Cronbach’s Alpha, psychometric scale, African American families.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source material

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was initially developed and validated between 1996 and 2002 by Stevenson and colleagues. Information regarding current usage permissions and associated fees should be sought directly from the primary author, H. C. Stevenson, or the institution hosting the scale’s technical reports, such as the Fast Track Project. The original technical reports confirming the scale structure are available online. The original PDF files can be accessed here: https://fasttrackproject.org/techrept/t/ter/ter9tech.pdf and https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1213713306&disposition=inline.

Reference’s

• Stevenson, H.C. (1994). Racial socialization in African American families: The art of balancing intolerance and survival. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 2, 190-198.
• Stevenson, H.C. (1994). Validation of the Scale of Racial Socialization for African American Adolescents: Steps toward multidimensionality. Journal of Black Psychology, 20, 445-468.
• Stevenson, H.C., Reed, J., & Bodison, P. (1996). Kinship social support and adolescent racial socialization beliefs: Extending the self to family. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 498-508.
• Stevenson, H.C., Cameron, R., Herrero-Taylor, T., & Davis, G. Y. (2001). Development of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale: Correlates of race-related socialization frequency from the perspective of Black youth. Unpublished Manuscript.
• Stevenson, H.C., Cameron, R., Herrero-Taylor, T., Davis, G. (2002.). Development of the teenager experience of racial socialization scale: Correlates of race related socialization frequency from the perspective of Black youth. Journal of Black Psychology, 28(2), 84-106.
• Nicholson, M.J. (2002). Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization (Technical Report). [On-line]. Available: http://www.fasttrackproject.org/

Items of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization (TERS)

1. American society is fair toward Black people.
2. Black children will feel better about themselves if they go to a school with mostly white children.
3. Families who go to a church or mosque will be close and stay together.
4. Black slavery is important never to forget.
5. Relatives can help Black parents raise their children.
6. Religion is an important part of a person’s life.
7. Racism and discrimination are the hardest things a Black child has to face.
8. ha‎ving large families can help many Black families survive life struggles.
9. You should be proud to be Black.
10. All races are equal.
11. If you work hard then you can overcome barriers in life.
12. A belief in God can help a person deal with tough life struggles.
13. Black children will learn more if they go to a mostly white school.
14. Knowing your African heritage is important for your survival.
15. Racism is real, and you have to understand it or it will hurt you.
16. You are connected to a history that goes back to African royalty.
17. Too much talk about racism will keep you from reaching your goals in life.
18. Schools should be required to teach all children about Black history.
19. Depending on religion and God will help you live a good life.
20. Families who talk openly about religion or God will help each other to grow.
21. Teachers can help Black children grow by showing signs of Black culture in the classroom.
22. Only people who are blood-related to you should be called your “Family”.
23. Getting a good education is still the best way for you to get ahead.
24. “Don’t forget who your people are because you may need them someday.”
25. Spiritual battles that people fight are more important than the physical battles.
26. You should know about Black history so that you will be a better person.
27. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and he will not turn away from it.”
28. You have to work twice as hard as whites in order to get ahead in this world.
29. Whites make it hard for people to get ahead in this world.
30. Be proud of who you are.
31. Going to a Black school will help Black children feel better about themselves.
32. You need to learn how to live in a White world and a Black world.
33. Never be ashamed of your color.
34. Whites have more opportunities than Blacks.
35. A Black child or teenager will be harassed just because s/he is Black.
36. More job opportunities would be open to African Americans if people were not racist.
37. Black children should be taught early that God can protect them from racial hatred.
38. Blacks don’t always have the same opportunities as whites.
39. Black children don‘t have to know about Africa in order to survive life in America.
40. Racism is not as bad today as it used to be before the 1960‘s.