Mixed Race Studies

Perceptions of Parents’ Ethnic Identities and the Personal Ethnic-Identity and Racial Attitudes of Biracial Adults

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 21, Number 1 (January 2015)
pages 65-75
DOI: 10.1037/a0037542

Cesalie T. Stepney
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Phillip E. Handy
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

The present study examined the relationship of perceived parental closeness and parental ethnic identity on personal ethnic identity and colorblindness beliefs in 275 part-White biracial Americans (M age = 23.88). Respondents completed online measures of their personal ethnic identity (minority, White, and multiracial), perceived parental ethnic identity, parental closeness, and attitudes about the state of race relations and the need for social action in the United States. Using path modeling, results show that part-White biracial individuals perceive their ethnic identity to be strongly linked to their parental racial identities, especially when they had closer parental relationships. Moreover, stronger minority identity was linked to less colorblind attitudes, and greater White identity was linked to greater colorblind attitudes suggesting that patterns of identity may influence how biracial individuals view race-relations and the need for social action. Implications for biracial well-being and their understanding of prejudice and discrimination are discussed.

Understanding Hapa Identity: More Research, Not Manifestos

AAPI Voices: Amplifying the voices of Asian Pacific America.
2014-05-29

Danielle Lemi, Guest Columnist and doctoral student
University of California, Riverside

As more details about the tragic events at UC Santa Barbara come to light, so too have details about Elliot Rodger, particularly with respect to his racial background. In response, bloggers have begun discussing racial identity issues among hapas, focusing heavily on issues of internalized racism or psychological problems because of supposed racial identity crises.

But what does the research say?  Do multiracial individuals have more mental health problems than those not identified as such?  Early research that was poorly designed said yes, but more recent research indicates otherwise…

Read the entire article here.

Call for Biracial/Racial Ambiguity Person Perception Data

The Stigma, Health, and Close Relationships Lab
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
2014-01-15

The The Stigma, Health, and Close Relationships Lab is currently conducting a systematic review of research on person construal and evaluation of biracial/mixed-race and/or racially ambiguous targets. We would like to include unpublished, in press, and published data produced since 2000 in this review. If you have any results that a) manipulate a target’s biracial/multiracial or ambiguous status through any means (visual presentation, racial label, ancestry, etc.) and b) include categorization (such as deliberate or automatic racial categorization or data that reflect categorization such as memory data) or evaluation (stereotyping, hiring decisions, liking, interaction outcomes or other person perception data), we would be grateful if you would forward your work to us. If the data is unpublished, please include a brief summary of the methodology and findings and/or send a clearly marked dataset.

All papers and questions can be forwarded to: biracialreview@gmail.com

Thanks for your assistance.

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Danielle Young, Postdoctoral Scholar
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Kristin Pauker, Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii, Manoa

Sarah E. Gaither
Department of Psychology
Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts

White ancestry in perceptions of Black/White biracial individuals: implications for affirmative-action contexts

Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Published online: 2013-05-09
DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12020

Jessica J. Good, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

George F. Chavez
Department of Psychology
Rutgers University

The present studies examine how White ancestry influences perceivers’ minority categorization of Black/White biracial individuals, as well as the implications of minority categorization for distribution of minority resources and stereotype use. Study 1 suggests that people are less likely to categorize those of Black/White biracial descent as minority and thus are less likely to view them as appropriate recipients of affirmative action than those of Black monoracial or Black/Native American descent. Study 2 tests a model in which Black/White biracial individuals with a greater amount of White ancestry are perceived as experiencing less discrimination and are less likely to be categorized as minority; therefore, they are judged as less appropriate for minority resources.

Read or purchase the article here.

The Stigma of Privilege: Racial Identity and Stigma Consciousness Among Biracial Individuals

Race and Social Problems
Volume 5, Issue 1 (March 2013)
pages 41-56
DOI: 10.1007/s12552-012-9083-5

Leigh S. Wilton
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Julie A. Garcia, Associate Professor of Psychology
California Polytechnic State University

Racial identification is a complex and dynamic process for multiracial individuals, who as members of multiple racial groups have been shown to self-identify or be identified by others differently, depending on the social context. For biracial individuals who have white and minority ancestry, such identity shifting (e.g., from minority to white, or vice versa) may be a way to cope with the threats to their racial identity that can be signaled by the presence or absence of whites and/or minorities in their social environment. We examine whether stigma consciousness (Pinel in J Pers Soc Psychol 76(1):114–128, 1999; i.e., the chronic awareness of the stereotyping and prejudice that minorities face) interacts with the sociocultural context to predict social identity threat, belonging, and racial identification. Using experience sampling methodology, minority/white biracial individuals (27 Asian/white, 22 black/white, and 26 Latino/white) reported the racial composition of their environment, social identity threat for their component racial identities, overall feelings of belonging, and racial identification over a 1-week period. Results suggest that stigma consciousness predicts the extent to which biracial people identify with their white background and experience belonging in different racial contexts. We discuss racial identity shifting in response to context-based threats as a protective strategy for biracial people, and identity where participants’ sociocultural contexts and experiences with racial identity and threat differ as a result of their minority racial group or ascribed race.

Read the pre-publication proof here.

Although earlier psychological research focused on those who are biracial or multiracial experiencing a “fractured sense of self,” Sanchez believes the stereotype is unfounded. The multiracial people she has studied are comfortable with who they are.  “They seem to be just as well-adjusted as their monoracial peers,” says [Diana] Sanchez, who is half Puerto Rican and half Czechoslovakian (I called myself “Czecha Rican,” she jokes.)

Carrie Stetler, “Rutgers Group Brings Students Together to Explore the Complexities of Being Multiracial,” Rutgers Focus, (September 2012). http://news.rutgers.edu/issue.2012-08-28.1598204061/article.2012-09-21.6397021568.

Rutgers Group Brings Students Together to Explore the Complexities of Being Multiracial

Focus
Rutgers University News
September 2012

Carrie Stetler

By 2050, one in five Americans is likely to be multiracial

It’s a question Joan Gan hears a lot: “What are you?” She instantly knows what it means.

Her father is Chinese and her mother is Greek, so when people meet her for the first time, they often have trouble identifying her ethnicity.

Gan, a Rutgers junior who grew up in Parsippany, understands their curiosity, and the questions don’t really bother her. But other aspects of growing up biracial were harder to negotiate.

“In high school I saw lots of ethnic clubs, and at colleges, too, and I didn’t really know which one to join,” says Gan, an environmental science major. “Even though I’m technically Asian, people don’t consider me one of them and technically I’m white, but people don’t always consider me that, either.”

During her first year at Rutgers, Gan discovered Fusion: Rutgers Union of Mixed People, which gives her and other students an opportunity to come together and explore the challenges and complexities of being multiracial…

…Fusion began seven years ago when Rutgers psychology professor Diana Sanchez, who is now the club’s adviser, started researching biracial and multiracial identity.

“As a way of connection multiracial students and getting participants for my research, I asked a student I knew to start an organization and he did,’’ says Sanchez, an an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, in the School of Arts and Sciences.. “Multiracial people hold a unique view of race; they’ve questioned it in a very different way. If you feel ‘in between’ communities, there is another identity you form that has to do with the merging of both those identities.”

Phillip Handy, who graduated in 2009, was one of the co-founders of Fusion. He is half European and half African American. “Racial conversations at Rutgers … often viewed race in a very categorical way,” says Handy, who grew up in Howell and now lives in California.“I thought the discussions would be enhanced by a multiracial student group.”…

Read the entire article here.

Blood Quantum and Perceptions of Black-White Biracial Targets: The Black Ancestry Prototype Model of Affirmative Action

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume 37, Number 1 (January 2011)
pages 3-14
DOI: 10.1177/0146167210389473

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

Jessica J. Good, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina

George F. Chavez
Department of Psychology
Rutgers University

The present study examined the causal role of amount of Black ancestry in targets’ perceived fit with Black prototypes and perceivers’ categorization of biracial targets. Greater Black ancestry increased the likelihood that perceivers categorized biracial targets as Black and perceived targets as fitting Black prototypes (e.g., experiencing racial discrimination, possessing stereotypic traits). These results persisted, controlling for perceptions of phenotype that stem from ancestry information. Perceivers’ beliefs about how society would categorize the biracial targets predicted perceptions of discrimination, whereas perceivers’ beliefs about the targets’ self-categorization predicted trait perceptions. The results of this study support the Black ancestry prototype model of affirmative action, which reveals the downstream consequences of Black ancestry for the distribution of minority resources (e.g., affirmative action) to biracial targets.

Read or purchase the article here.

Sources of Self-Categorization as Minority for Mixed-Race Individuals: Implications for Affirmative Action Entitlement

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 16, Issue 4 (October 2010)
Pages 453-460
DOI: 10.1037/a0020128

Jessica J. Good, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina

George F. Chavez
Department of Psychology
Rutgers University

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

Multiracial individuals are in the unique position of being able to categorize themselves as members of multiple racial groups. Drawing on self-categorization theory, we suggest that similarity to the minority ingroup depends on self-perceptions of physical appearance and connectedness to the minority ingroup. Moreover, we argue that similarity to the ingroup determines self-categorization as minority, which predicts category-based entitlements such as perceived eligibility for minority resources (e.g., affirmative action). Using path analysis, we found support for this model on a convenience sample of 107 mixed-race minority–White participants. The results suggest that affective processes rather than observable characteristics such as prototypical physical appearance better predict self-categorization among mixed-race individuals.

Read or purchase the article here.

How Do Forced-Choice Dilemmas Affect Multiracial People? The Role of Identity Autonomy and Public Regard in Depressive Symptoms

Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Volume 40 Issue 7
Pages 1657 – 1677
Published Online: 2010-07-09
DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00634.x

Diana T. Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology
Rutgers University

The present study reports on correlational data gathered from an Internet survey to explore why forced-choice dilemma situations relate to depressive symptoms among multiracial people (N = 317). Specifically, a model was tested that explored the role of identity autonomy (the extent to which multiracial people feel they can racially identify however they desire) and public regard (the extent to which multiracial people think others value their multiracial identity). The results of the model suggest that forced-choice dilemmas predict greater depressive symptoms because forced-choice dilemmas may promote greater beliefs that their multiracial identity is devalued in society and more generally restrict identity autonomy. Implications are discussed in terms of multiracial health and public policies regarding assessments of racial identities.

Read or purchase the article here.