Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A)

Abstract

The Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A), developed by Howard C. Stevenson in 1994, is a psychological instrument designed to assess the messages and practices related to race that African American parents and family members transmit to their children. This psychological scale is specifically tailored for use with adolescents and aims to capture the multidimensional nature of racial socialization, including coping mechanisms, cultural pride, and awareness of systemic racism.

The SORS-A is a 45-item, self-report measure that utilizes a five-point Likert response format to quantify the adolescent’s perception of these familial messages. It identifies five distinct factors reflecting the breadth of racial messages communicated within African American families.

Keywords

Racial Socialization, African American Adolescents, Parenting Practices, Cultural Pride, Racism Awareness, Extended Family, Spiritual Coping, Psychological Scale.

Authors

Howard C. Stevenson.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the SORS-A is to systematically measure the various dimensions through which African American parents and caregivers communicate information, values, and perspectives about race, ethnicity, and racism to their children. It provides researchers with a standardized tool to quantify these complex familial processes, which are crucial for the psychological development and well-being of adolescents navigating race-conscious societies.

Specifically, the scale seeks to understand how families prepare youth for potential experiences with discrimination, instill a sense of cultural heritage, and mobilize resources—such as spiritual beliefs and extended family networks—to cope with racial stress and achieve success.

Construct

The SORS-A is designed to operationalize the construct of racial socialization, which refers to the developmental process by which children learn about race, ethnic identity, and intergroup relations. Stevenson conceptualized this construct as multidimensional, moving beyond simple messages of preparation for bias to include affirmative and supportive elements.

The instrument captures five core dimensions of racial socialization practices perceived by the adolescent: Spiritual and Religious Coping, Extended Family Caring, Cultural Pride Reinforcement, Racism Awareness Teaching, and Life achievement and Struggling. These factors reflect the comprehensive strategies employed by African American families to foster resilience and identity development in their children.

Validity

The psychological scale has demonstrated initial construct and concurrent validity through several validation studies involving African American youth. Stevenson’s initial work (1994) provided evidence for the multidimensional structure of the SORS-A, confirming that the identified factors map onto distinct theoretical domains of racial socialization.

Concurrent validity has been established by showing expected associations between the SORS-A subscales and other related psychological outcomes, such as self-esteem, coping mechanisms, and behavioral adjustment in African American adolescents. The factor structure has been generally supported across various adolescent samples, affirming its utility in measuring the intended constructs.

Reliability

Reliability studies, particularly internal consistency analyses, indicate that the SORS-A subscales generally possess acceptable to good reliability coefficients, typically ranging from .70 to above .85 for the primary factors. This suggests that the items within each subscale consistently measure the underlying construct.

Further research has supported the stability of the SORS-A scores over time, indicating adequate test-retest reliability, although specific coefficients depend on the sample and time interval used. The robust internal consistency makes the SORS-A a reliable tool for assessing racial socialization messages.

Factor Analysis

Stevenson’s validation efforts included extensive factor analysis to establish the underlying structure of the 45 items. The analysis initially supported a multidimensional model, which was refined to identify five distinct, yet correlated, factors.

The five factors identified through factor analysis are:

• Spiritual and Religious Coping: Items 4, 7, 13, 21, 22, 28, 40. This factor relates to using faith and spirituality as a resource for dealing with life struggles and racial hatred.
• Extended Family Caring: Items 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 24, 27, 30. This factor measures the importance of kinship networks and family unity for survival and support.
• Cultural Pride Reinforcement: Items 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 29, 33, 39, 44. This factor captures messages promoting African American culture, history, and self-pride.
• Racism Awareness Teaching: Items 1, 3, 19, 26, 30, 37, 38, 41, 42, 45. This factor addresses direct teaching about the existence and impact of racism and discrimination in society.
• Life achievement and Struggling: Items 5, 15, 25, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, and 44. This factor involves messages about striving for success, managing societal barriers, and understanding the necessity of working harder due to racial inequality.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological inventory.

Format: 45 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 = Disagree a lot, 2 = Disagree a little, 3 = Not sure, 4 = Agree a little, and 5 = Agree a lot.

Language Available: English.

Population Group: African American/Black individuals.

Age Group: Adolescents.

Population Details: Primarily developed and validated on African American middle and high school students.

Test Methodology: Quantitative survey administered via paper or digital format, measuring perceived parental/familial racial socialization messages.

Keywords

Howard C. Stevenson, African American Studies, Developmental Psychology, Cultural Identity, Coping Mechanisms, Likert Scale.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was initially published and validated in 1994. Information regarding commercial fees or formal permissions for academic use is not detailed in the source material, but the scale is widely cited and utilized in published psychological research. The full instrument details are publicly available through academic sources.

Reference’s

• Stevenson, H. C. (1993). Validation of the scale of racial socialization for African American adolescents: A preliminary analysis. Psych Discourse, 24, 12-12.
• Stevenson, Howard C. (1994). Validation of the Scale of Racial Socialization for African American Adolescents: Steps toward Multidimensionality. Journal of Black Psychology, 20(4), 445-468.
• Stevenson, Howard C., Reed, Jocelyn., Bodison, Preston. (1995). Kinship social support and adolescent perceptions of racial socialization: Extending self to family. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 498-508.
• Stevenson, H. C. (1994). Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A). In Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY. Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page (s): 597-599.
• The instrument can be found via the Iowa State University Digital Repository here: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=etd.

Items of the Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Our society is fair toward black people.
2. Grandparents help parents to make decisions.
3. Black children will feel good about being black in a school with mostly white children.
4. It is important for families to go to church or mosque where spiritual growth can happen.
5. Families should talk about black slavery with their children.
6. Relatives can help black parents raise their children.
7. Religion is an important part of a person’s life.
8. Racism and discrimination are the hardest things a black child has to face.
9. ha‎ving large families can help many black families survive life struggles.
10. Families of black children should teach them to be proud to be black.
11. Children should be taught that all races are equal.
12. Children who have good times with their relatives become better people.
13. A belief in God can help a person deal with tough life struggles.
14. A mostly black school will help black children learn more than a mostly white school.
15. Spending good time with relatives is just as important for parents as it is for their children.
16. Black parents should teach their children about racism.
17. Black parents should talk about their roots to African culture to their children.
18. Relatives can teach children things that parents may not know.
19. Families who talk about racism to their children will lead them to doubt themselves.
20. Schools should be required to teach all children about black history.
21. Depending on religion and God can help a person make good life decisions.
22. Families who talk openly about religion or God are helping their children grow.
23. Teachers should make it so black children can see signs of black culture in the classroom.
24. Only people who are blood-related to you should be called your “family.”
25. Gatling a good education is still the best way for a black child to survive racism.
26. “Don’t forget who your people are because you may need them someday.”
27. When children are younger than 5‚ racism doesn’t bother them.
28. Spiritual battles that people fight are more important than the physical battles.
29. Teaching children about black history will help them to survive a hostile world.
30. “Train up a child In the way he should go‚ and he Will not turn away from It.”
31. A black child has to work twice as hard in order to get ahead in this world.
32. Watching parents struggle to find work can make many black children wonder if it is worth it to try and succeed in the world.
33. Parents can teach children to be proud to be black without saying a word.
34. Black children at a mostly black school will feel better about themselves than those who go to a mostly white school.
35. Black parents need to teach their children how to live In two worlds: one black and one white.
36. Light-skin black persons often think they are better than darker skinned blacks.
37. Whites do not have more opportunities than blacks.
38. A black child or teenager will not be harassed simply because s/he is black.
39. More job opportunities would be open to African-Americans if people were not racist.
40. Black children should be taught early that God can protect them from racial hatred.
41. Whites do not think of black people as lazy or aggressive today like they used to believe 30 or more years ago.
42. Black parents should not teach their children to speak their mind because they could be attacked by others in society.
43. If black parents teach their children that blacks don’t always have the same opportunities as whites‚ they may help them to survive racism and be successful.
44. Black children don’t have to know about Africa in order to survive life In America.
45. My family taught me very little about racism in America.