Mixed Race Studies

Protective factors promoting psychosocial resilience in biracial youths

University of Alaska, Fairbanks
2010
127 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3421517
ISBN: 9781124214290

Gail K. Kawakami-Schwarber

Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska ,Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Resilience in adolescents is the achievement of positive outcomes and the attainment of developmental tasks in the face of significant risk. This study identified protective factors promoting resilience in the development of positive self-identity in biracial youths. The rapidly rising biracial youth population is a vulnerable group facing potentially higher risks for mental health and behavioral issues compared to their monoracial counterparts. Identity development, a central psychosocial task of adolescence, is a complex task for biracial youths since they must integrate two ethnic identities. For biracial youths, mastery of the psychosocial identity developmental task can be daunting as they face stressors such as racial stigmas and negative stereotypes, which may lead to identity problems manifesting during adolescence. Sixteen biracial individuals ranging from age 18 to 29 years participated in this qualitative research project. Comparisons were made to identify patterns and themes for factors affecting self-esteem and ethnic identity level among the participants. Brought to light were culturally-based protective factors stemming from individual, family, and social domains promoting psychosocial resilience in fostering healthy biracial identity resolution. Risk factors unique for the biracial population were also identified. The findings underscore the importance in understanding how the environment shapes and influences the ways biracial youth negotiate their dual identity. The research results can be integrated into appropriate prevention and intervention techniques for application by professionals and families to further healthy identity resolution in biracial youths.

Table of Contents

• Signature Page
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Appendices
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introduction
  • Statement of Problem
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Definition of Terms
• Chapter 2 Literature Review
  • Vulnerable Population
  • Issues Related to the Biracial Population
  • Adolescent Identity Development
  • Psychosocial Identity Process
  • Ecological Theory
  • Race, Culture, and Stereotypes
  • Racial Identity Studies
  • Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem
  • Ethnic Identity Models
  • Biracial Identity Models
    • Posten’s biracial identity development model (BID)
    • Wardle’s biracial model
    • The Kerwin-Ponterotto model
    • Root’s biracial identity resolution theory
  • Resilience Concept
  • Models of Resilience
    • Challenge model
    • Cumulative effect model
    • Interaction model
  • Factors Influencing Resilience
    • Risk factors
    • Protective factors
      • Psychosocial protective factors
    • Self-Esteem
  • Developmental Outcomes of Resilience
• Chapter 3 Method
  • Participants
  • Apparatus
  • Procedures
  • Data Analysis
• Chapter 4 Results
  • Self-Esteem Ranking and Data Comparison
    • Heritage and parents’ heritage
    • First generation parents
    • Cultural knowledge
    • Self-identity and parental ethnic identification
    • Self-identity and identification with parents
    • Self-identity and role models
  • Ethnic Identity Levels and Data Comparison
    • Heritage and parents’ heritage
    • First generation parents
    • Culture knowledge
    • Self-identity and parental ethnic identification
    • Self-identity and identification with parents
    • Self-identity and role models
  • Comparison Between Self-Esteem Ranking and Ethnic Identity Levels
    • Self-esteem ranking
    • Ethnic identity levels
  • Identified Protective Factors
    • Personal Factors
    • Ethnic mixture
    • Ethnic heritage
  • Identity Factors
    • Positive and consistent labels from parents
    • Parental ethnic identity assignment
    • Identification with parents
  • Coping Skills
    • Ethnic identity discrepancy management
    • Identity fluctuation
  • Family Factors
    • First generation parent
    • Parents as role models
    • Extended family contact and acceptance
  • Social and Community Factors
    • Cultural knowledge
    • Peer acceptance
  • Potential Risk Factors
• Chapter 5 Discussion
  • Protective Factors for Biracial Identity Development
  • Additional Protective Factors
  • Risk Factors and Resilience
  • Implications
  • Practical Applications
  • Limitations
  • Future Directions
  • Conclusion
• References

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Potential risk factors identified for biracial identity development
• Figure 2: Protective factors identified for biracial identity development

List of Tables

• Table 1: Self-Esteem, Heritage, Parents’ Heritage and Generation to United States
• Table 2: Self-Esteem, Self-Identity, Parental’s Ethnic Identification and Cultural Knowledge
• Table 3: Self-Esteem, Self-Identity, Role Model and Identified with Parent
• Table 4: Ethnic Identity, Heritage, Parents’ Heritage and Generation to United States
• Table 5: Minority-White Ethnic Identity, Heritage and Parents’ Heritage
• Table 6: Minority-Minority Ethnic Identity, Heritage and Parents’ Heritage
• Table 7: Ethnic Identity, Self-Identity, Parental Ethnic Identification and Cultural Knowledge
• Table 8: Minority-White Ethnic Identity, Self-Identity, Parental Ethnic Identification and Cultural Knowledge
• Table 9: Minority-Minority Ethnic Identity, Self-Identity, Parental Ethnic Identification and Cultural Knowledge
• Table 10: Ethnic Identity, Self-Identity, Role Model and Identified with Parent
• Table 11: Self-Esteem Ranking with Ethnic Identity Score
• Table 12: Ethnic Identity Ranking with Self-Esteem Scores

List of Appendicies

• Appendix A: Informed Consent Form
• Appendix B: Demographic Questionnaire
• Appendix C: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
• Appendix D: Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
• Appendix E: Interview Guide

Purchase the dissertation here.

Existing in a Third World: The unique biracial educational experience

California State University, Long Beach
December 2007
90 pages
Publication Number: AAT 1451152
ISBN: 9780549405887

Ashley Benjamin

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Educational Psychology, Administration, and Counseling California State University, Long Beach In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education

The purpose of this study is to explore the educational experience of the Black/White biracial student in order for educators to become better informed about the challenges that biracial students face during their educational years. In order to accomplish this task, data were collected through open-ended interviews and questionnaires and analyzed using a combination of “closed” and “open” coding techniques.

The results of this study indicated that biracial students have a unique educational experience and that racism and racial segregation are still a problem in today’s educational settings. The findings, in addition to the literature, also demonstrates the many challenges biracial students face within the educational context, thus making them potentially at risk for various emotional, social, and academic problems.

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American Mixed-Race Literature: Cultural History, Precursors, Identities, and Forms of Expression

Purdue University
2004
116 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3166693
ISBN: 9780542022999

Gino Michael Pellegrini, Adjust Assistant Professor of English
Pierce College, Woodland Hills, California

This dissertation focuses on recent instances of mixed race literature in American culture such as Danzy Senna’s novel Caucasia, Rebecca Walker’s Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, and Kip Fulbeck’s Paper Bullets: A Fictional Autobiography. This dissertation suggests that these mixed race literary texts, as well as the multiracial experiences, sensibilities, themes, and expressions communicated therein, differ from traditional conceptions and descriptions of race and mixed race in American society, history, and literature that are based on the logic of the binary racial system. Mixed race literature attempts to phrase and communicate suppressed, distorted, and/or neglected multiracial experiences, sensibilities, and possibilities. Mixed race literature is also coextensive with the emergence of the multiracial social formation and movement in the post-civil rights era. “Precursors” to mixed race literature fall short in their attempt to phrase and to communicate complexities and experiences of mixed race lived existence. I read Jean Toomer’s Cane as one of the most significant precursors to mixed race literature in American literature. Mixed race literature also differs from “mixed race in American literature” insofar as the later, in the presentation of mixed race characters and themes, both relies on and validates the categorical, hierarchical, and dichotomous logic of the binary racial system. Notable examples in the canon of American and American Ethnic literature are William Faulkner and Toni Morrison who, from a mixed race perspective, extend and promote in their texts the suppression and distortion of multiracial complexities, possibilities, and lived realities in the service of the binary racial system.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Chapter One: Multiracial Identity in the Post-Civil Rights Era: A Personal Narrative Essay
  • The Summer of 1999
  • Growing up Racially Mixed in the 1970s and 1980s
  • Negotiating Raciated University in the 1990s
  • Conclusion
• Chapter Two: Cane and Jean Toomer: Percursors, American Mixed Race Literature
• Chapter Three: Danzy Senna’s Caucasia: A Novel About Growing Up Racially Mixed and Becoming Multiracial in the Post-Civil Rights Era
• Chapter Four: American Mixed Race Ficiational Autobiographies: Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish and Kip Fulbeck’s Paper Bullets
• List of References
• Vita

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What are you? A qualitative study on multiracial identity development

The Wright Institute
June 2008
115 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3351317
ISBN: 9781109073614

Luana M. Coloma

A dissertation submitted to the Wright Institute Graduate School of Psychology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Psychology

The current study explored essential themes of multiracial ethnic identity among six Asian-White women. Participants were between the ages of 19 and 27, and self-identified as having a White mother and an Asian father. Participants were interviewed face-to-face using a semi-structured questionnaire. Interviews were then transcribed and coded for themes using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five primary themes emerged: The Continuous Journey of Ethnic Identity Development, Situational Identity, The Maternal Relationship and its Effects on Identity Development, The Comparison of Multiracial Experiences to Monoracial Experiences, and the Asian-White Experience. A number of subthemes also were identified. Although some of the themes mirrored findings from previous multiracial research, such as identity being situationally based, new themes also emerged. In particular, themes related to the relationship between the White mother and her multiracial daughter were brought to light. In addition, preliminary results relating to the unique experience of the Asian-White subgroup when compared to the larger multiracial subgroup were identified. Implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Definitions
  • Historical Background of the Presence of Multiracial Individuals in the United States
  • Current Research on the Multiracial Population
  • The Asian-White Multiracial Experience
  • Identity Development
    • Ethnic Identity Development Models
    • Multiracial Identity Development Models
    • Multiracial Identity Development Models for Asian-White Individuals
  • A Closer Look at the Mother-Daughter Relationship
    • The Mother-Daughter Relationship
    • Multiracial Daughters and Their Relationships With Their Mothers
    • Multiracial Daughters and Their White Mothers
  • Summary
  • Hypotheses
• Methodology
  • Participants
  • Procedure
  • Instruments
  • Data Analyses
• Results
  • Demographic and Biographical Information
    • Participant 1
    • Participant 2
    • Participant 3
    • Participant 4
    • Participant 5
    • Participant 6
  • Interview Themes
    • The Continuous Journey of Ethnic Identity Development
    • Situational Identity
    • The Maternal Relationship and its Effects on Ethnic Identity
    • The Comparison of Multiracial Experiences to Monoracial Experiences
    • The Asian-White Experience
• Discussion
  • Discussion of Results
    • Hypothesis One
    • Hypothesis Two
    • Hypothesis Three
  • Limitations and Confounds
  • Recommendations for Future Research
• References
  • Appendices
  • Appendix A
  • Appendix B
  • Appendix C
  • Appendix D

Puchase the dissertation here.

I’ve got a Story to Tell: Critical Race Theory, Whiteness and Narrative Constructions of Racial and Ethnic Census Categories

Bowling Green State University
December 2010
245 pages

Candice J. LeFlore-Muñoz

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

This study examines the embedded nature of whiteness in the use of racial and ethnic categories on U.S. census forms. Specifically, this study focuses on people’s perceptions of racial and ethnic categories, how those categories have been historically used on U.S. census forms, and the relationship between this discourse on racial and ethnic categories and elements of whiteness. Like (Nobles, 2000), in this study, I argue that the rhetorical construction of race and ethnicity on census forms is not a trivial matter since the way that we structure these words and categories significantly influences how we understand them. Thus, this study practices critical rhetoric (McKerrow, 1989) and employs the use of critical race theory (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001) to investigate the relationship between the 20 counter narratives and the larger master narrative about racial and ethnic categorization in this country. Throughout this dissertation, I use Omi and Winant’s (1994) racial formation and racial projects to highlight several themes that emerge in the master narrative and counter narratives. By focusing on these themes, this analysis explores past, present, and future racial projects that may emerge in relation to the use of racial and ethnic categories on census forms and elements of whiteness.

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION
  • Unveiling Whiteness in Discourse
  • Chapter Breakdown
• CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORING RACE AND ETHNICITY THROUGH THE LENS OF WHITENESS
  • Muddled Memories of a Multiracial Past
  • Situating Race and Ethnicity within Whiteness Studies and Critical Rhetoric
  • Whiteness Studies: An Overview of Scholarship
• CHAPTER TWO: PAST TO PRESENT – TRACES OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC CATEGORIZATION
  • Early Racial Classification Systems
  • Race as a Biological Construction
  • Race as a Social Construction
  • Race, Power, and Dominance
• CHAPTER THREE: RACE, ETHNCIITY, AND THE U.S. CENSUS
  • Upholding Whiteness: Racial and Ethnic Classification on the U.S. Census
  • Self-Identification and Official Racial and Ethnic Categories
  • Check ONE Box: Monoracial Ideology and the U.S. Census
  • Hypodescent Racial Projects and Census Classification
  • Maintaining the Rigid Color Line: Anti-Miscegenation Laws and the U.S. Census
  • Free White Persons: Intersections of Citizenship, Whiteness, and the Census
  • Mark One or More: Census 2000
• CHAPTER FOUR: CRT AND THE PRACTICE OF A CRITICAL RHETORIC
  • Critical Race Theory (CRT)
  • Critical Rhetoric
  • Dismantling Power: Complimentary Aspects of Critical Rhetoric and CRT
  • Telling Whose Stories: Data Collection and Study Design
• CHAPTER FIVE: THE MASTER NARRATIVE
  • Box Checking and Socialization
  • Box Checking and Self-Identity/Self-Esteem
  • Defining Race and Ethnicity
  • Well What are You? Stereotyping, Social Rules, and Racial/Ethnic Categories
• CHAPTER SIX: COUNTER NARRATIVES, CATEGORIES, AND PRIVILEGE: HOW WHITENESS WORKS WITH BOX CHECKING
  • Privilege, Passing, and Box Checking
    • The White Category and Privilege
    • Minority Categories and Privilege
  • Passing for Privilege
    • Skin Color and Privilege
• CHAPTER SEVEN: SHATTERING THE PAST: CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION OF THE MASTER NARRATIVE
  • What Race What Space?
  • Boxes Not Inclusive
    • Asian Groups – No Hyphen American
    • Cultural and National Identity
    • Boxes Not Inclusive for Whites
    • Boxes Not Inclusive for Latinos
  • Wording & the Use of Negro
• CHAPTER EIGHT: PRESERVING AND DISMANTLING THE AUTHORITY OF WHITENESS
  • Self-Identification, Public Policy, and Civil Rights Legislation
  • The Black/White Binary and Some Other Race
  • Possibilities for Change
    • Color Blindness
    • Honorary Whites and Collective Blacks
    • White Minority or White Majority?
  • Whiteness Deconstructed
    • Boxes Not Inclusive
  • Considerations for the Future
  • What Can Reasonably be Done?
    • Reducing Skepticism & Promoting Intersectionality
    • Limitations & Future Research
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIX A: LIST OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS
• APPENDIX B: RECRUITMENT FLYER
• APPENDIX C: CONSENT FORM
• APPENDIX D: NARRATIVE PROMPT
• APPENDIX E: CENSUS QUESTIONS HANDOUT
• APPENDIX F: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Introduction

Wondering…
1st grade: Wondering why my mom calls my light-skinned aunt Black, when I think she looks more White. 3rd grade: Wondering why Black and Native American are not considered mixed… wondering why my father is called Black when he is Native American too…

Acknowledging and Believing…
6th grade: Mutually acknowledging with one of my best friends from 1st grade (who is a White- appearing blond-haired, blue-eyed Native American boy) that we shouldn’t hang around each other because now the kids at school tend to hang out with the people who look like them and we are tired of getting teased. Middle school: Believing the one-drop rule… or that if you are anything mixed with Black, you are just Black. High school: Acknowledging that there are five “official” racial and ethnic categories—White, Black, Asian, Native American, and Latino. Knowing that White always comes first, but not fully understanding why… wondering why it is so easy for me to just say the five categories when there are other racial and ethnic categories out there.

Wondering and Questioning…
College: Being happy about the new Black golfer Tiger Woods even though he doesn’t describe himself as Black, but as multiracial. Wondering why he has to just be Black? Grad School: Being skeptical about all of the media referring to the new president (Barack Obama) as the first Black president… again because he is multiracial… then realizing that he refers to himself as Black. Questioning the very racial and ethnic categories that have framed so much of my life.

Since the first census in 1790, the United States has been a country that is obsessed with labels and the use of racial and ethnic categories. These labels have become a fundamental part of how individuals view the world, and they play a significant role in how reality is constructed. Whether a person identifies as Black or African American, Latina or Hispanic, Asian or Chinese American, these words have roots of significance far beyond the words that appear on the page. These labels carry their historical significance with them every time they are uttered, written, or seen on a page. Thus, given the fact that racial and ethnic labels enjoy widespread use, these terms are important in society and they become a central factor in how individuals craft their identity (Yanow, 2003)….

…Likewise, I also acknowledge the fact that my personal experiences with race and ethnicity have been undoubtedly shaped by their discursive constructions and the embedded nature of whiteness in our language system. As Fanon (1967) points out, “a man who has a language consequently possesses the world expressed and implied by that language” (p. 18). In their discussion of the importance of whiteness studies to rhetoric and composition studies, Kennedy, Middleton, and Ratcliff (2005) also highlight this when they point out that whiteness is prevalent in the ways in which it socializes how we talk about groups of people through our racially-inflected language. This reminds me of Lorde‟s (1984) warning that “the master‟s tools will never dismantle the master‟s house” (p. 112).

As a result, I feel that it is necessary to briefly address the problematic nature of using a language system which is inherently shaped by whiteness, while simultaneously maintaining the ultimate goal of trying to deconstruct it. Thus, while I do not systematically place words like race and ethnicity in quotation marks throughout this dissertation, I envision them to be this way in order to serve as a reminder of their socially constructed status and their historical connection to notions of White superiority and pseudo-scientific research. Likewise, this also applies to my use of multiracial and mixed race since they are premised on the idea that pure, distinct racial groups exist that can be mixed and result in multiracial people. Furthermore, I also acknowledge the problematic nature of using words like White, non-White, people of color, other, minority and majority since the use of these terms rhetorically re-centers whiteness and demonstrates how notions of whiteness are normalized in the current language system. Thus, despite my use of people of color, I also envision White as a color even as I search for ways in which to talk about non-White people without re-centering whiteness…

Read the entire dissertation here.

Through Mixed Eyes: The Biracial Experience and The Current State of Race in America

Williams College
2009-05-22
163 pages

Riki McDermott

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors In Sociology

President Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. For many, this election served as a turning point in American history. His inauguration represented hope and change, and drew attention to the ways in which race relations have evolved with time. That being said, his election fails to tell the complete story. His presence distracts us from the racial injustices and inequalities that continue to plague American society. However, the case of biracial Americans draws our attention back to the controlling racial forces that proceed to haunt social institutions, interactions, and identities. Biracial Americans figuratively and literally serve as bridges between different races, thus signaling the importance of their interpretations of modern race relations. Through their eyes, we are able to better understand and assess the current state of race in America.

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Dedications and Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Initial Identity Formation of Biracials
• Chapter 2: The Renegotiation ofBiracial and Ethnic Identity
• Chapter 3: The Transformation of Biracial and Multiracial Passing
• Chapter 4: Interpreting the Realities of Racial Misidentifications
• Bibliography

We are currently living in the era of multiracialism. Whether we are aware of it or not, American culture is becoming saturated by multiracialism. The United States 2000 Census revealed that out of 281,421,906 individuals, 6,754,126 of them self-identified as multiracial. The sheer number of individuals of mixed race currently existing within the United States can therefore serve as an initial illustration of how multiracialism is growing in American culture. With a growing number of mixed race individuals, the likelihood of coming into contact with multiracials increases, thus intensifying the presence of multiracialism in American life. However, the media furthermore contributes to the spread of multiracialism today. As Americans we’ve come to depend on the media to keep us connected to the world outside of our own realm of experiences, resulting in its highly influential nature. Thus, whatever the media chooses to focus on, or however the media decides to spin a story, it generally dictates what the general American thinks about. As a result, when the media decides to focus its attention on two highly respected and distinguished men in American culture, who just happen to be multiracial, America listens…

…Biracial and multiracial individuals occupy an interesting space within American society; a space in which many of these individuals are forced to think about race with great frequency, as a result of our society not accounting for and recognizing many of the specific racial make-ups of multiracial individuals. This is problematic for mixed race individuals who desire for their specific racial make-up to be socially acknowledged, but who find it difficult to assert themselves within a social context dominated by distinct monoracial categories. I have found that as a result of having to deal with this dilemma, individuals of mixed races dedicate a lot of time to thinking about the social realities and consequences of race. Furthermore, I think individuals of mixed races serve as a metaphorical turning point between the past and the future. The past of this country was monoracial individuals, despite the fact that biracial and multiracial individuals existed, who were socially unacknowledged as such. And the future of this country is multiracial individuals, many of whom will be unaware of their exact racial make-up, due to a long legacy of racial mixing. Thus, multiracial individuals are now living within a society that continues to be dominated by a monoracial mentality, even though we claim not to be.  I therefore view these individuals as being able to sympathize with the monoracial tendencies of the past and present, as well as the multiracial tendencies that have begun to surface and will continue to emerge in the future. For these reasons, I see biracial and multiracial individuals as a group whose insights about the present and future state of racial America are especially crucial for a sociological analysis…

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“The devil made the mulatto”: Race, religion and respectability in a Black Atlantic, 1931-2005

University of Toronto
2007
312 pages
Publication Number: AAT NR39517
ISBN: 9780494395172

Daniel R. McNeil, Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies
Newcastle University, United Kingdom

According to The Historical Journal there has only been one scholarly study of mixed- race history. This text—New People: Mulattoes and Miscegenation in the United States—fails to address events after 1930 in any detail, and ends its historical analysis with a discussion of the mixed-race people who committed themselves to a “New Negro” group. In an attempt to cover this gap in the academic literature, my dissertation analyses the creative artistry of individuals who were born after 1930 and were told, by governmental agencies in the US, UK and Canada, that they had a Black father and a white mother. My first case study looks at Philippa Schuyler, the daughter of George Schuyler, the most prominent African American journalist of the early twentieth century. I acknowledge that George Schuyler’s journalistic peers marketed his daughter as a “Negro” child prodigy during the 1930s and 1940s, but I also document how she fashioned herself as a “mulatto” writer or a vaguely aristocratic “off-white” femme fatale during the 1950s and 1960s. My second case study looks at Lawrence Hill, a writer who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto during the 1950s and 1960s and has achieved a degree of prominence in Canada by casting himself as a middle-class Black “race man” like his African American father, the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Agency. Subsequent case studies investigate the legacy of the “Black is beautiful” movements of the 1960s on a wider variety of individuals—from working-class folks in Nova Scotia and Merseyside to American idols—and provide further evidence for my argument that a Black identity has been masculinized in opposition to the stigma attached to a “mulatto” identity associated with young “brown girls”. In doing so, I draw heavily on the work of Otto Rank, W.E.B Du Bois and Frantz Fanon. In particular, I link Rank’s ideas about creative artistry – that it was a masculine attempt to give birth to a new self, community or nation—to the theories of Du Bois and Fanon that defined “honest intellectuals” in a Black Atlantic against mixed-race women and children.

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The struggle for selfhood in multiracial adolescents: Identify formation in Asian-White mixed race youth

Widener University, Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology
May 2008
184 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3405230
ISBN: 9781109705614

Leilani Salvo Crane

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology College of Arts and Sciences Widener University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Psychology

This qualitative study identified factors that contribute to racial identity development in multiracial Asian-White adolescents. The research sample was comprised of 12 mixed-race Asian-White Americans between the ages of 16 and 23 years, 7 females and 5 males. They represent a variety of Asian-White mixes: 4 Japanese American-White; 3 Chinese-White or Chinese American-White; 2 Filipino American-White; 1 Japanese-Chinese-White; and 1 Hawaiian-Spanish-Filipino-Chinese-White. Biracial Asian-Black individuals were excluded due to the well-documented American tendency to classify mixed-race individuals of Black descent as “Black.” The participants were drawn from two sources, a book of interviews conducted and compiled by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins entitled, What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People, and a “fictional autobiography” by Kip Fulbeck entitled, paper bullets. Participants were chosen to represent a broad spectrum of Asian descent, geographical location, age, and gender. The first-person accounts were analyzed using a qualitative method devised by Carol Gilligan and colleagues, the Listening Guide Method. The method was modified by employing a tabular sorting of themes identified in the various stages of analysis dictated by the Listening Guide Method. The findings indicated several shared themes that impacted the participants’ process of racial identification. Key findings included sensitivity to other racial minorities, experiences of exoticization and objectification, not fitting in, racial pride, and experiences of racism. These in turn contributed to the participants feelings of anger toward the majority White culture, pain at not fitting in to this culture, “invisibility,” or lack of recognition by the majority culture, and having an unclear sense of self.

Based on data from well-being studies, multiracial Asian American identity development models, and the results of the current analyses, the study concluded that exposure to a reference group of multiracial Asian-White individuals is a critical contributor to the development of positive racial self-view. The study acknowledges that experiences of racism, marginalization, and invisibility negatively impact identity development in mixed-race Asian-White adolescents, and that clinical interventions should include exposure to Asian-White reference groups.

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School counselors’ perceptions of biracial students’ functioning

Columbia University
September 2010
178 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3400544
ISBN: 9781109673753

Mai Margaret Kindaichi

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University

The number of biracial school-aged youth has continued to increase dramatically (Jones & Smith, 2001), and has drawn timely attention to the extent to which practicing school counselors address biracial youths’ concerns in a culturally competent manner. This study examined the perceptions of a nationally-based random sample of 203 White school counselors who provided their assessment of a students functioning (i.e., GAF) and case conceptualizations (i.e., multicultural case conceptualization ability [MCCA]; Ladany et al., 1997) in response to a summary of a fictitious student. In the summary, the student was identified as White, Black, Asian, Biracial Black-White, Biracial Black- Asian, or Biracial Asian-White; the student summaries were identical less the racial background of the identified student. Potential differences in assessments of students’ functioning and inclusion of racial-cultural information in case conceptualizations were examined across the six student conditions, which yielded non-significant results. Nearly 89% and 93% of participants failed to address race or culture in their conceptualizations of students’ presenting concerns and treatment conceptualizations, respectively. Additionally, school counselors’ denial of racism (i.e., color-blind racial attitudes) was shown to moderate their inclusion of racial-cultural information in their treatment conceptualizations across students’ racial backgrounds. Implications of the findings, future research directions, and multicultural education in school counseling curricula are discussed.

Table of Contents

• CHAPTER I
  • INTRODUCTION
    • Multicultural Counseling Competence in School Counselors
    • Color-Blind Racial Attitudes
    • Attitudes toward Multiracial Youth
    • Overview of the Dissertation Project
• CHAPTER II
  • LITERATURE REVIEW
    • Multicultural Counseling Competence in School Settings
    • Explanation of Terms
    • Research concerning Biracial Individuals
      • Unique Challenges in Research Concerning Biracial and Multiracial Individuals
      • Perceptions of Biracial and Multiracial Individuals and Interracial Marriage
      • Empirical Literature on Biracial Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Adjustment
      • Summary Models of Biracial Identity Development and Identity Resolution
      • School Professionals’ Attitudes toward Biracial and Multiracial Children and Adolescents
    • Color-Blind Racial Attitudes
    • Summary and Research Questions
• CHAPTER III
  • METHOD
    • Research Goals
    • Participants and Sampling Method
    • Sample
    • Instruments
• CHAPTER IV
  • RESULTS:
    • Preliminary Analyses
    • Main Analyses
      • Question 1
      • Question 2
      • Question 3
      • Question 4
      • Question 5
    • Summary
• CHAPTER V
  • DISCUSSION
    • Limitations
    • Implications for Education and Training
    • Future Research Directions
• REFERENCES
• APPENDICES
• APPENDIX A. SAMPLE SURVEY PACKET
• APPENDIXB. COLOR-BLIND RACIAL ATTITUDES SUBSCALES
• APPENDIX C. ATTITUDES TOWARD MULTIRACIAL CHILDREN CODING
• APPENDIX D. CODING SCHEME FOR MULTICULTURAL CASE CONCEPTUALIZATION ABILITY

List of Tables

• Table 1. Summary of Stage Progressions in Linear Biracial Identity Development Models
• Table 2. Demographic Characteristics of Participants
• Table 3. Participants’ Demographic Information across Student Conditions
• Table 4. Participants’ Descriptions of School Counseling Settings
• Table 5. Mean GAF, MCCA Etiology, and MCCA Treatment Scores across Student Conditions and Participants’ Race/Ethnicity
• Table 6. Mean CoBRAS Subscale and AMCS Scores by Student Condition and Participants’ Race/Ethnicity
• Table 7. Correlations among White School Counselors’ Experience, Race-Related Attitudes, Case Conceptualization Ability, and GAF Scores
• Table 8. Analysis of Variance in GAF by Student Conditions (N=201)
• Table 9. Hierarchical Regression of School Counselors’ AMCS and CoBRAS Scores on GAF Scores for Biracial Students (N = 83)
• Table 10. Analyses of Variance in MCCA Etiology and MCCA Treatment by Students’ Backgrounds (N=201)
• Table 11. Multivariate Analysis of Variance in MCCA Etiology, MCCA Treatment, and GAF Scores
• Table 12. Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Moderator Effects

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Frequency Distribution of MCCA Etiology Scores Offered by White School Counselors across Student Conditions
• Figure 2: Frequency Distribution of MCCA Treatment scores offered by White School Counselors across Student Conditions
• Figure 3: Interaction Effect of Color-Blind Racial Attitudes across Student Conditions on Mean MCCA Treatment Scores

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It’s Not Easy Being Green: Stress and Invalidation in Identity Formation of Culturally-Complex or Mixed-Race Individuals

Texas A&M University
May 2008
159 pages

Samaria Dalia Roberts Perez

Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communications

This is an exploratory study to examine a population which has not been widely researched, mixed-race or “culturally-complex” individuals and identification. In the interest of this study, “culturally-complex” refers to individuals who report parents being from two or more different races/ethnicities; i.e. Black, White, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, Native-American, etc. Current literature reveals through quantitative methods that mixed-race adolescents often report more stress and are at greater health risks than most mono-racial adolescents. However, past studies have not thoroughly investigated why and how this stress exists and at times is inconsistent, which points to the need for qualitative inquiry. Although most of the previous literature focuses on mixed-race adolescents, this study focused on an adult population. Study participants were recruited through snowball sampling for in-depth, open-ended interviews. The data was analyzed by searching for common themes that illustrate the possible causes for stress in culturally-complex individuals.

Though this study cannot be representational of all culturally-complex individuals it did provide for noteworthy findings. Race and ethnicity, and particularly being culturally-complex are topics that are often not spoken about in the family or between siblings. In general, culturally-complex individuals are not provided with space for dialogue and so thus, having a place to voice ideas, experiences, and opinions was appreciated by all participants. In all interviews, frustration and confusion was expressed towards box-checking. Though stress and invalidation was inconsistent in past literature surrounding mixed-race and culturally-complex individuals, only some participants in this study reported stress and invalidation, while other participants did not report having ever experienced stress or invalidation. While literature had posed that often culturally-complex individuals would identify with the ethnicity of the father, in this study most of those who identified as one culture over another had identified as the ethnicity of the mother. Participants additionally had―hierarchies of identities―where being culturally-complex was not always their most important role. Future research should examine populations from different socioeconomic groups and other demographics.

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