African American youth experience individual and institutional level discrimination (e.g., Berkel et al., 2009; Jones, 1997). These experiences negatively impact their overall well-being (e.g., Harris-Britt et al., 2007; Wang & Huguley, 2012). African American parents use racial socialization to teach their children strategies to cope with racial discrimination (e.g., McAdoo, 2002; Peters, 1997). Given the positive impact of racial socialization on the negative outcomes associated with discrimination (e.g., Bynum et al., 2007), more work is needed to understand how contextual factors influence this process. The current study used qualitative methods to examine racial socialization in response to two levels of school-based discrimination. Directed content analysis was used on transcripts from ten focus groups of African American parents (N= 73). Results indicated that parents provided similar cultural socialization messages in response to both levels of discrimination whereas preparation for bias messages differed. Implications for preparing youth for school-based discrimination are discussed
