As part of a recent global study on parenting, Kantar asked parents in the US, UK, France, Germany and Brazil how recent social justice developments on racial equality, gender and sexual identity have impacted their children.
Have movements, such as Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate, and increasing societal support of non-binary gender and LGBTQ+ identity, positively or negatively affected their lives? Here’s what parents had to say...
Race/ethnicity social justice movements
Amongst these five markets, 55% of parents report no impact on their children (aged 22 or under) relating to the increased momentum of social justice movements related to race or ethnicity and visibility of race or ethnicity motivated crimes. According to their parents, children in the UK have felt the least impact (32%) and Brazil the most (43%).
Almost half of Brazilian parents report a positive impact on their children (46%), with only 9% reporting a negative impact. In contrast, in the US, 23% of parents report a positive impact and 17% report a negative impact on their children.
Gender and sexuality social justice developments
Increasing societal support of non-binary gender and LGBTQ+ identity has had less of an impact on children globally, with 59% parents reporting no impact on their children. Similar to the feedback given on race and ethnicity movements, parents in the UK report their children were the least impacted (30%) and Brazil the most (49%).
For parents who reported these social justice developments have had an impact on their children, there were a multitude of positive and negative responses as to how their children were impacted.
There was a prominent theme of open communication and access to information to build understanding and awareness and generally help their children feel part of an increasingly inclusive society...
However, there were also concerns around exposure causing confusion, notably in younger children, and a fear for their safety in the realities of the world and specific events...
Get more answers
For more findings from this study, access the complete Community Report: Connecting with Parents and Caregivers. Explore our findings around parenting and caregiving during the past 18 months.
About this study
This research was conducted online among 5,865 people across eight global markets: US, UK, France, Germany, India, Singapore, China and Brazil between 22 July and 9 August 2021. Respondents were sourced from the Kantar Profiles Network. All interviews were conducted as online self-completion.
The questions relating to the impact of recent social justice developments around racial equality and gender and sexual identity on children were only asked in US, UK, France, Germany and Brazil.
