Racial Attitudes of Preschoolers: Age, Race of Examiner, and Child-Care Setting

Abstract

Racial attitudes of 60 preschool children (28 boys, 32 girls) from either a monoracial Euro-American child-care program ( n = 16), a monoracial African-American program ( n = 12), or a multiracial program (25 Euro-Americans, 7 African-Americans) were assessed using the Preschool Racial Attitudes Measure II. Despite the over-all neutral attitudes reflected by these children, evidence of a Euro-American bias among older children was found. If replicated with a large randomly selected sample recognizing and understanding early racial attitudes may be a key factor in fostering positive racial identity and preventing the formation of prejudice.