Mixed Race Studies

A Qualitative Analysis of Multiracial Students’ Experiences With Prejudice and Discrimination in College

Journal of College Student Development
Volume 57, Number 6, September 2016
pages 680-697
DOI: 10.1353/csd.2016.0068

Samuel D. Museus, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs
Indiana University

Susan A. Lambe Sariñana, Clinical Psychologist
Cambridge, Massachusetts

April L. Yee
University of Pennsylvania

Thomas E. Robinson

Mixed-race persons constitute a substantial and growing population in the United States. We examined multiracial college students’ experiences with prejudice and discrimination in college with conducted focus group interviews with 12 mixed-race participants and individual interviews with 22 mixed-race undergraduates to understand how they experienced prejudice and discrimination during their college careers. Analysis revealed 8 types of multiracial prejudice and discrimination which were confirmed by individual interviews: (a) racial essentialization, (b) invalidation of racial identities, (c) external imposition of racial identities, (d) racial exclusion and marginalization, (e) challenges to racial authenticity, (f) suspicion of chameleons, (g) exoticization, and (h) pathologizing of multi-racial individuals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A Qualitative Examination of Multiracial Students’ Coping Responses to Experiences with Prejudice and Discrimination in College

Journal of College Student Development
Volume 56, Number 4, May 2015
pages 331-348
DOI: 10.1353/csd.2015.0041

Samuel D. Museus, Associate Professor of Higher Education
Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver

Susan A. Lambe Sariñana, Clinical Psychologist
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tasha Kawamata Ryan

National data indicate that multiracial individuals comprise a substantial and growing proportion of the US population, but this community is often invisible in higher education research and discourse. This study aims to increase knowledge of mixed-race students in higher education by examining the ways in which they cope with experienced prejudice and discrimination in college. Findings indicate that multiracial college students cope with prejudice and discrimination by educating others about multiracial issues, utilizing support networks, embracing fluidity of multiracial identity, and avoiding confrontation with sources of prejudice and discrimination. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Understanding Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Cognition among Multiracial Youth: A Mixed Methods Study

University of Massachusetts, Boston
June 2013

Susan A. Lambe Sarinana

According to the 2010 census report, 9 million people (2.9% of the total population in the United States) identified as multiracial. Of the individuals who identified (or whose parents/guardians identified them) as multiracial, 4.2 million were younger than 18 years of age (www.uscensus.gov). Given that social scientists predict that the multiracial population is increasing so that up to one in five people might identify as multiracial by 2050 (Lee & Bean, 2004), it is critical that researchers examine various aspects of multiracial experiences, including the ways that multiracial youth understand complex concepts such as race, ethnicity, and culture.

This two-part study addresses the gap in literature on intergenerational ethnic-racial socialization processes within interracial families and ethnic cognition among multiracial adolescents. In Study 1, monoracial parents of multiracial children (ages 2-22) completed a survey about ethnic-racial socialization practices, colorblind attitudes, ethnic identity, parent psychological distress, and child psychosocial functioning, and demographic characteristics. Parental ethnic racial socialization beliefs and practices were related to ethnic identity, colorblind attitudes, and parents’ received socialization. In Study 2, multiracial 7th through 12th grade students completed a survey about their perceptions of parental ethnic-racial socialization, ethnic identity, psychosocial functioning, and demographic characteristics. In addition, multiracial adolescents participated in a semi-structured interview to assess Ethnic Perspective Taking Abilities (EPTA; Quintana, 1994). Results support the use of the EPTA model with multiracial youth to assess their understandings of race, ethnicity, and inter-group relations.

Download the entire dissertation here on 2015-06-01.