Groundbreaking UMD Study about Kids and Race Featured in CNN Series

COLLEGE PARK, Md - Difficult questions. Groundbreaking results. How early do children begin to form opinions about race - and how are they shaped? College of Education Professor Melanie Killen (Human Development and Quantitative Methodology) and her University of Maryland research team spent the last year studying these issues for CNN and the Anderson Cooper Show "AC360."

The results of the research were reported on CNN during the week of April 2nd in a series called "AC360 Special Report: Kids on Race, the Hidden Picture." The research actually builds on historic research from the 1940s that examined how African American children interpret race, discrimination and stigma. The children, ages six and thirteen, were shown images that were scientifically designed to be ambiguous to children. What is happening in this picture was the starting point for interviews conducted with groups of 145 African-American and European-American children in six schools across three states.

The report explored how children interpreted interracial encounters with their peers when the intentions of the children in the images were ambiguous (for example, did one child push the other child, or did one child fall accidentally). "Having a friend of a different race or ethnicity really does lead you to challenge stereotypes," says Professor Killen. "But also to create a comfort that you are going to have for the rest of your life."

The CNN series tackled controversial issues and answered some difficult questions posed by Professor Killen and her team. Is race a factor in how children view conflicts and choose friends? Do children see race or are they, as many parents believe, socially colorblind? How, when and why do they form their opinions on race? Can those opinions change over time or at a certain age, are kids hard-wired about race? And does the racial make-up of their school and environment affect their opinions on race? Professor Killen says by the time kids hit 13 they are getting an increasing number of messages: "By 13, there are other issues that start coming up like dating. And so that is when messages from parents and society start getting much more negative."

Cooper was joined by CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien sharing with viewers the children's answers and the conclusions Professor Killen and her research team drew from their responses.

An hour-long program based on the series was broadcast on Sunday, April 8th and will be rebroadcast on CNN in the future - please check listings for more information.

You can read more about the series on Anderson Cooper's blog.

Media Contacts:

Halima Cherif
College of Education
301.405.0476
hcherif@umd.edu

Shimrit Sheetrit
CNN
Shimrit.sheetrit@turner.com

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