Mothering Multiracial Children: Indicators of Effective Interracial ParentingPosted in Canada, Dissertations, Family/Parenting, Media Archive, Social Work on 2011-07-12 19:44Z by Steven |
Mothering Multiracial Children: Indicators of Effective Interracial Parenting
McGill University
1997
123 pages
Nicolette De Smit
A Thesis Submitted to The School of Social Work Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Master’s Degree in Social Work
The goal of this descriptive/exploratory study was to examine the behavior and attitudes of eleven white and five non-white mothers involved in raising multiracial, preschool-aged, biological children. A theoretical framework based on research carried out with multiracial individuals was used to define interracial parenting strategies that promoted strong racial and personal identities in their children. Through individual interviews, using a questionnaire, an opinion survey, and four vignettes that described racially complex situations, two areas of parenting were examined: contact maintained by mothers with the child’s minority background, and the mothers capacity to effectively problem-solve.
Little difference was found between the responses of white and non-white mothers. However, among white mothers, the younger, less educated mothers had considerably more contact with the minority culture than did the older, highly educated mothers. The latter, however, performed significantly better than their younger counterparts in providing responses that displayed more of the attitudes and parenting strategies recommended in previous research.
Read the entire thesis here.