Adultification bias

Adultification bias is a form of racial prejudice where children of minority groups, such as Black American children, are treated by adults as being more mature than they actually are. Actions committed by these children that would be deemed normal for child development are more likely to be treated as opportunities for discipline and children are more likely to be seen as having malicious intentions.[1][2] A clear example of this bias in action is when a Black child is assumed to be older than their actual age. These perceptions could in turn perpetuate the maturity of Black children and the assumptions of adults.

Since it is a relatively new concept, adultification bias has not been well studied. Still, many studies have found that Black children are more susceptible to discipline from authority figures, such as police officers and educators.[1][3][4][5][6][7] Black children are also overlooked or their intentions are misrepresented in healthcare settings, contributing to "medical mistrust" in the Black community.[8] Scholars from the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Law have argued that adultification bias can trace its roots to slavery and stereotypes of African Americans.[3][5][9] Adultification bias can affect the language used when describing children or adolescences of minority groups in the media.[1] This bias may perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline.[1][4][10]

Educators and authority figures can address adultification bias by improving their cultural competence and communication.[11][12]

  1. ^ a b c d Dancy, T. Elon (2014). "(Un)Doing Hegemony in Education: Disrupting School-to-Prison Pipelines for Black Males". Equity & Excellence in Education. 47 (4): 476–493. doi:10.1080/10665684.2014.959271. S2CID 145679452.
  2. ^ Goff, Phillip Atiba; Jackson, Matthew Christian; Di Leone, Brooke Allison Lewis; Culotta, Carmen Marie; Ditomasso, Natalie Ann (2014). "The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 106 (4): 526–545. doi:10.1037/a0035663. PMID 24564373.
  3. ^ a b Epstein, Rebecca; Blake, Jamilia J.; Gonzalez, Thalia. "Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls' Childhood" (PDF). Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality. Retrieved 2022-06-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ a b Reynolds, Aja; Hicks, Stephanie D. (2016). "Can We Live? Working Toward a Praxis of Support for Carefree Black Girls". Black History Bulletin. 79 (2): 12–17. doi:10.1353/bhb.2016.0000. JSTOR 10.5323/blachistbull.79.2.0012. S2CID 245666004.
  5. ^ a b Morris, Edward W. (2007). ""Ladies" or "Loudies"?". Youth & Society. 38 (4): 490–515. doi:10.1177/0044118X06296778. S2CID 143916502.
  6. ^ Dumas, Michael J.; Nelson, Joseph Derrick (2016). "(Re)Imagining Black Boyhood: Toward a Critical Framework for Educational Research". Harvard Educational Review. 86: 27–47. doi:10.17763/0017-8055.86.1.27.
  7. ^ Carter Andrews, Dorinda J.; Brown, Tashal; Castro, Eliana; Id-Deen, Effat (2019). "The Impossibility of Being "Perfect and White": Black Girls' Racialized and Gendered Schooling Experiences". American Educational Research Journal. 56 (6): 2531–2572. doi:10.3102/0002831219849392. S2CID 181408681.
  8. ^ Hoffman, Kelly; Trawalter, Sophie; Axt, Jordan; Norman Oliver, M. (2016). "Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (16): 4296–4301. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.4296H. doi:10.1073/pnas.1516047113. PMC 4843483. PMID 27044069.
  9. ^ Smith-Purviance, Ashley L. (2021). "Masked Violence against Black Women and Girls". Feminist Studies. 47: 175–200. doi:10.1353/fem.2021.0000.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hines-2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Guevara, Lori; Herz, Denise; Spohn, Cassia (2006). "Gender and Juvenile Justice Decision Making". Feminist Criminology. 1 (4): 258–282. doi:10.1177/1557085106292778. S2CID 146347745.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Koch-2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).