Race attitudes in cultural context: The view from two Brazilian states

The development of implicit and explicit racial attitudes were investigated in 542 White, Pardo, and Black Brazilian children and adolescents (aged 6 to 14) from 2 different regional contexts that vary dramatically in their racial diversity, Bahia (BA) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Results revealed the pervasive presence of race biases favoring higher status groups across multiple measures of implicit and explicit attitude. Contextual differences were also apparent, particularly in measures of group identification: Children from the more diverse context (BA), including Black children, identified themselves more strongly with lighter skin tones, particularly with Whites. Implicit attitudes were stable with age, whereas explicit attitudes generally showed less bias as a function of age. Implicit and explicit racial preference were related in younger but not older children, providing evidence of increasing divergence across early development. Differences between our findings and those reported from other regions underscores the need for greater diversity in our research efforts. © 2019 American Psychological Association.