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Television Media as a Potential Negative Factor in the Racial Identity Development of African American Youth

Received and accepted February 8, 2008. Dr. Martin is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at West Central Mental Health Center in Canon City, Colo. Address correspondence to Ardis C. Martin, M.D., Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Private Practice, 3765 Cherry Plum Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80920; acmartin99{at}netzero.net (e-mail).

Racism and discrimination continue to be a pervasive problem within our society. The images seen in media, in general, and on TV, in particular, perpetuate these negative stereotypes about African Americans and impact majority society’s views of Blacks. These images also may influence minority cultures’ view of themselves and have the potential to affect the developing minds of African Americans. Negative stereotypes may be highly detrimental to African American children and adolescents as they attempt to traverse their way through the normal course of identity development.

The process of adolescent identity exploration is fraught with elements of distress and continuous discovery. Adolescents have the task of trying on new roles, coming to terms with their sexuality, separation and individuation from their family, establishment of autonomy, and understanding their place in society and the world.

African American youth are met with the additional challenge of discovering what it means to be black. They must also discover their racial identity. This endeavor can prove to be difficult because they find that the world around them has already defined them by the color of their skin. They are bombarded with negative images of the self—reinforced by the media, either overtly or subtly, which may ultimately have an impact on their development and their overall sense of who they are or who they can become. African American youth struggle to define what it means to be black in spite of the stereotypes which are seen around them.

In this article, I explore how stereotypical images seen on TV and the promotion of racial discrimination may impact racial identity development and two theories of racial identity development and their stages. I also explore how positive images and social supports can counteract these stereotypical images and aid in a more fluid transition through the development process of racial identity to create a sense of resiliency as a protective device against the negative environment that African Americans will continue to face. Finally, I look at the importance of this knowledge within the child psychiatric community in promoting therapeutic support for African American patients.

Television Portrayal
Television is a powerful medium. Peffley et al. (1) found in their study that racial stereotypes about African Americans are easily activated visually, which supports the idea that TV can be a very persuasive device because of its ability to capture viewers’ attention by such dynamic means. TV often acts as a way for people to observe the world around them and TV portrayals, whether negative or positive, can influence people’s attitudes toward one another. Wright et al.’s (2) study supports the "Cultivation Hypothesis" and proposes that what people see and hear in the media influences their perceptions of reality and that adolescents, in particular, learn social information from what they see on TV.

Unfortunately, people often believe that what they see on TV is a true representation of the world and the people around them, especially when they have no other frame of reference or experience in their own lives with which to compare or conflict with what they have seen. Adolescents often look to the media to explore new roles, observe the way they are depicted, and see if they can identify with these images. This can prove dangerous because groups of people can be reduced to mere negative depictions or categorized in unflattering ways which may then be accepted by the majority and possibly minority cultures as fact. Gerbner and Gross (3) describe TV as a means of socializing people into "standardized roles and behaviors." This standardization provides people with a broad "background of assumptions" and contributes to the "biasing of social reality." Their study further supports the idea that people develop conceptions about the world as a result of repeated exposure to consistent and repetitive images in the media. Children Now (4, 5), a national organization that strives to advance public policy with regard to children, explored this idea and found that children and adolescents are susceptible to these images; across races, children and adolescents associated positive characteristics to Caucasian characters on TV and negative characteristics to minority cultures, Latinos and African Americans in particular. They also report how the absence of minorities on TV, in general, makes children feel that they are not worthy of "attention" and that the stereotyped and negative roles they encounter suggest that they are not worthy of "respect." In addition, Children Now describe how television’s limited portrayals of minorities may lead youth to get the sense that other groups are more greatly valued in society than their own. They "get messages about their race by how often their members are portrayed in the media"; when the messages are well received, children learn that their race is important. This helps children to feel included and provides them with positive role models.

Although African Americans make up only 12% of the U.S. population (6), they make up a large percentage of TV viewers. Nielsen Media Research’s (7) 2005–2006 report describes how African American viewing levels have increased by 4%, as compared to the 2004–2005 season, with the majority of the increases seen among children and teenage girls. African American children ages 2–11 and teenagers ages 12–17 were shown to watch more TV in the 2005–2006 season, by 10% and 9%, respectively, as compared to the previous years totals. It has also been reported that within African American homes, the TV is typically on 11 hours and 10 minutes a day (79 hours a week) compared to 7 hours and 34 minutes a day (52 hours per week) in white homes (8). Thus, African Americans are watching on average 20 hours more than their Caucasian counterparts and African American youth are reported to watch 2 hours more (14 hours per week) more of TV than Caucasian youth. If the images they see promote who they are in a negative way, does this affect how they see themselves?

Tan and Tan (9, 10) found that there is a correlation between the degree of TV exposure and low esteem seen in African Americans. They believed that repeated exposure of majority-focused shows or depictions of African Americans in negative roles cause low self-esteem in black audiences who view it. They postulated that through media portrayals, negative stereotypes may be crucial in developing negative self-images within a stereotyped group. Barnes (10, 11) proposed that African American images seen on TV are negative and that these portrayals could promote internalization by African American youth that they are unimportant—leading to lower self-esteem and negative self-image. Norton (10, 12) reported that self-image and self-esteem relate to one’s perceptions of one’s own group.

Miller (13) expands on Chestang’s theory that covert and overt racism can affect the character development of African Americans, "leading to a sense of worthlessness, inadequacy, and impotence that is incorporated into a devaluation of the self." Banks (10, 14) discussed how African American children "derive their idea of themselves largely from white society and their institutions," that they often accept many of the stereotypes about themselves, and that they can develop a low self-concept by seeing a continuous degradation of their blackness. He also notes that the effect of the child’s environment can negatively or positively impact his or her racial identification, feelings of self-hate, and ultimately his or her own mental image. Mays (15) points out that the history of African Americans as well as ethnicity play a crucial part in the development of identity. Mays further cites Mosby’s work (15, 16), which postulates that because African Americans develop within a culture that teaches that their "behaviors, beliefs, and characteristics are inferior, maladjusted, and inadequate," they also internalize a view of themselves as inadequate. These cultural images may be a more powerful influence than the positive influences in their development. Williams-Morris (17) further outlines how racism may adversely affect the health of African Americans who are vulnerable to it, leading to mental health and medical problems as internalization of the negative stereotypes and beliefs about themselves become ingrained.

With the extensive viewing of media, in particular TV, by African American youth, there may be a greater chance of these images decreasing their self-esteem, increasing their identification with the negative attitudes, and eventual or possible disruption of their racial identity.

Historically, there has been either an absence of African Americans on TV or negative distorted images. Over the years, these depictions have changed but the underlying basis of their impact on majority society at large and how African Americans are seen or how they see themselves remains. Bogle (10, 18) described five common distorted misrepresentations of African Americans in media which he believed were used to entertain by "stressing the inferiority of Blacks": the Tom or "Good Negro" who was "socially acceptable, submissive, often insulted," but who would not turn against the slave master; the Mammy, closely related to the comic Coon, was often depicted as "fat, fiercely independent, ill-tempered," and often troublemaking; the Mulatto, who was accepted and looked kindly upon only because he was half white; the Buck, who was represented as "big, oversexed, savage-like," and dangerous; and the Coon, of which there are three types—the pure Coon, who is "unreliable, lazy," and spends all his time eating watermelon and speaking poor English, popularized by the famous black actor Stepin Fetchit; the Pickaninny, the "harmless Negro child whose eyes pop and whose hair stands on end" at the slightest provocation; and Uncle Remus, who was satisfied with his place in life as a slave or servant, harmless and naive.

Other negative depictions of the black female included that of the Jezebel who was seen as "seductive, beguiling, and lewd" and the Sapphire who was seen as "angry, domineering, loud, and emasculating." Black men were also portrayed as Sambos who were always "laughing, happy-go-lucky, musical, and subservient" (unpublished lecture of Bakken G, et al.). Although these overt negative depictions have changed over the decades, the subtle remnants of these old stereotypical images remain. Instead of Coons, Mammy, and Sambos, African Americans are now often characterized in the media as criminals, delinquents, perfect entertainers and athletes, irresponsible, lazy, overbearing, or devoted sidekicks to or in need of being saved by their white counterparts. These images can foster the already accepted stereotypes of African Americans within majority culture. But they also continue to create caricatures of the black experience, reducing African Americans from whole beings to an image, behavior, or a sound bite plastered across the TV screen. A recent study by Rich et al. (19) examined gender and race in music videos and underscores the idea that these stereotypical images still exist. He found that African Americans were "overrepresented as aggressors and victims" and postulated that the videos may be validating the negative images of African American males as aggressive.

Fortunately, there has been a rise in more appropriate and positive depictions of African Americans in the media. The Cosby Show is most often cited when discussing this change with its depiction of African Americans as educated and family-oriented. Other past shows also made the presence of African Americans on TV more visible—Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times—but often still had subtle stereotypical references of the past. Motion pictures have also improved in their portrayals of African Americans. Sidney Poitier was one of the first male black actors to have roles that placed him in nonstereotypical and positive roles for the public to see. Others, like Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Morgan Freeman followed Poitier and have been able to establish roles that appear to have broken the boundaries of race—as police officers, heroes, and the like—but the number of caricatures that still exist appear to sometimes outweigh the positives. With The Cosby Show’s departure in the 1980s, most African Americans in TV appear primarily in comedies and rarely in dramas or as main characters. In the 2007/2008 season, African Americans were better represented in dramas, but primarily in ensemble roles and not as main characters. And the only predominate African American casts were in comedies where representative stereotypes such as the "athlete," "buck," "jezebel," and "sapphire" were still present (i.e., The Game and Girlfriends, respectively). Although progress has been made, there are still issues that need to be examined and overcome.

One of the potential implications of African Americans viewing these negative portrayals is "stereotype threat" (20). Stereotype threat is described as "the fear that one will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which one identifies." It can be assumed that if a person is continuously inundated with these negative images, he or she will begin to believe that these images are true. In effect, the fear of living up to the stereotypes leads to its actualization, thus inadvertently promoting a self-fulfilling prophecy and the potential for emotional distress. This can affect a person’s ability to perform in academics, athletics, and in the workplace. Arroyo and Zigler (21) expand on Ogbu and Fordham’s (22, 23) concept of "racelessness" in describing how African Americans struggle to promote a "raceless" persona in order to navigate both worlds, leading to interpersonal conflict and ambivalence because of the difficulty they have in integrating the demands of their own culture and those of the majority culture. If there is a continual devaluation of the person and his or her culture, a sense of low self-esteem, poor self-image, and conditioned helplessness can be created, putting the person at risk for potential mental health issues. Fernando (24) explored how this sense of helplessness can lead to symptoms of depression.

Williams-Morris (17) describes racial identity as the ability to perceive racial differences and to identify oneself as a member of a racial group and have a positive sense of self—resulting in positive self-regard. This process occurs by first conceptualizing racial differences and then evaluating one’s membership within a group. But the images that a person sees may affect his or her overall personal evaluation and progression through the stages of racial identity development.

Racial Identity Development
Cross et al. (25, 26) described the concept of Nigrescence or the "process of becoming Black" as an internalization of positive attitudes about a person’s racial identity which is characterized by the development of comfort, tolerance, and confidence in self-image. He outlined four stages of racial identity development: preencounter, encounter, immersion-emersion, and internalization. Individuals in the preencounter stage consciously or unconsciously devalue their own sense of blackness and concurrently value majority ways and values. Their feelings of self-worth come from a white perspective and there is a strong desire to assimilate and acculturate into white society. The negative images and devaluation of Blacks as seen in the media (news, cinema, or TV) can contribute to this stage as well as prevent a person from moving past it if the only sense of self he or she has derived is from negative depictions, creating a sense of self-hatred. In the encounter stage, the individual encounters a profound crisis or event that challenges his or her previous mode of thinking and behaving and begins to reinterpret the world and a shift in worldview results. There is a rejection of the white social, cultural, and institutional standards. There may be a feeling of being miseducated. This may be aided by more positive images of African Americans in the media or counterstereotyping as well as positive influences from the outside world which would be in direct conflict with previously seen images, causing a disruption and search for the truth. In the immersion-emersion stage, the individual withdraws from dominant culture and immerses him or herself in African American culture. Black pride develops and feelings of anger and guilt may dissipate with an increasing sense of pride. In the internalization stage the individual incorporates into his or her self-concept a sense of self-confidence and secure identity. The individual can own and accept those aspects of American culture that are seen as healthy and can stand against those that are toxic.

Sellers et al. (26) described the process of identity development within a different format and terms—the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity. The four dimensions are as follows: salience of identity, centrality of identity, the ideology associated with identity, and the regard with which the person holds the group associated with the identity. Racial salience is described as the extent to which a "person’s race is relevant as a part of his or her self-concept." Centrality is the extent to which a "person defines himself or herself with regards to race." Ideology is the "individual’s opinions, beliefs, and attitudes with respect to the way he or she feels Blacks should act." And lastly, regard refers to a person’s judgment of his or her race publicly and privately—private regard being how one "holds positive or negative attitudes toward Blacks and one’s own membership in the group" and public regard being the perception of how "others view Blacks, positively or negatively." Again, the images seen in media can help promote positive or negative attitudes about the self, but unfortunately, even today, negative images are more reflective in our society and African Americans must fight against these representations. If they can, the results can lead to a positive strengthening of their racial identity.

Resiliency
Successful completion of this developmental process can be protective for African American youth as they encounter racism, discrimination, and the experiences associated with being a minority in a majority society in which the negative images that they have seen about themselves continue to be expressed as true or part of popular opinion. Miller (13) describes how racial identity development and socialization can promote resiliency, protecting African Americans against racism and discrimination. Protective factors have been identified which can increase resiliency and counteract the effect of the negative images. They include positive family interaction, exposure to positive culturally relevant information, and images that convey the importance of pride in an individual’s race, self-development, and awareness of racial issues in society at large. Media could help with this as well by presenting more positive nonstereotypical images of African Americans. Sellers et al. (26) found that those who developed a high central identity were more likely to report "lower levels of subsequent psychological stress," suggesting that identifying with one’s race may be beneficial and protective.

Lastly, understanding the process of racial development and the effect that TV and media have on African Americans, their identity, and their overall experience in the world may help child and adolescent psychiatrists become more effective when working with their African American patients. Understanding racial identity development may help form a stronger relationship in psychotherapeutic treatment with African American patients. Understanding and identifying a patient’s developmental stage may help create a more successful therapeutic alliance, aid the patient in processing the psychodynamic issues that he or she may be dealing with, and may lead to better empathy and understanding with regards to his or her experience. It is important for providers to not underestimate the impact that this development has on their African American patients.

In summary, racial identity development is a crucial step in the growth of African American youth. The impact of negative images in the media may impede this development, but positive influences from the media, family, the educational system, and other positive supports which promote self-pride and self-regard may be protective for African Americans against racism and discrimination and, in turn, decrease their experience of mental distress.

As illustrated in this article there have been several studies and theories established about the effect of racism, perceived discrimination, and negative portrayals of African Americans in the media and the effect on self-concept and psychological well-being; however, to my knowledge, none have looked directly at the possible correlation between these negative images and transitioning through the different stages of racial identity development. Further study of this kind would be very interesting and could prove helpful in the treatment of African American youth when these issues present in treatment. Additional protective factors may be developed to further promote resiliency to help counteract these effects.

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