Mixed Race Studies

Multiracial Children in Child Development Textbooks

Early Childhood Education Journal
Volume 35, Number 3 (December, 2007)
Pages 253-259
Print ISSN: 1082-3301; Online ISSN: 1573-1707
DOI 10.1007/s10643-007-0157-8

Francis Wardle

The 2000 US census was the first to allow respondents to check more than one race/ethnic response for their identity. About 6.8 million Americans did so, and a disproportionate percentage of them were children under age 18 years old. The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which this change is reflected in contemporary child psychology textbooks. Twelve books were examined to determine whether they covered multiracial and multiethnic children. Results of this study showed that only two of these books addressed issues related to the healthy development of multiracial/multiethnic children in any detail; and, while several used terms such as biracial and bicultural, these terms were always used to describe single-race minority children living in a majority context. The discussion section covers possible reasons for this omission.

For the first time in many years the 2000 U.S. Census allowed people in the United States with more than one racial/ethnic heritage to accurately report their racial/ethnic identity to their government (Williams, 2006). Respondents were permitted to check more than one response to the question of racial or ethnic identity (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2000). In response to this change, 6.8 million Americans identified themselves with more than one racial/ethnic category. Further, forty percent of these respondents were children under 18 years of age (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2000). This radical change was the result of a powerful grassroots effort of various multiracial groups and individuals in this country before the 2000 census, including parents—biological and adoptive—of multiracial children (Williams, 2006). Thus this statistical change in the demographics of this country truly reflects a change in the thinking of many parents; it′s not simply an artifact of government policy.

The question this study addresses is whether the shift in the way the U.S. government categories its citizens is reflected in college textbooks published since the change was made. Specifically, I selected textbooks that cover child development and human development, because racial and ethnic identity has come to be considered a critically important aspect in the development of healthy children. The definitions I use are, multiethnic: a person or child whose acknowledged identity includes the two U.S. Census ethnic categories (Hispanic/non Hispanic); multiracial: a person or child whose acknowledged identity includes two or more of the U.S. Census categories (Wardle & Cruz-Janzen, 2004). Clearly, many children can be considered multiethnic and multiracial, especially as these terms are currently in considerable flux…

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The racial canons of American sociology: Identity across the lifespan as biracial alternative

The American Sociologist
Volume 31, Number 1 (March, 2000)
pages 86-93
Print ISSN: 0003-1232; Online ISSN: 1936-4784
DOI: 10.1007/s12108-000-1006-z

Ronald E. Hall, Professor of Social Work
Michigan State University

The fabric of American sociology is woven from societal belief and tradition. Sociology is thus, to some extent, a manifestation of canons. While research has concluded no single model of racial identity based in fact, sociologists apply racial canons in conformation to cultural tradition and Western belief systems. Traditions and beliefs are reflected in sociological research, literature, and various theoretical constructs. In the aftermath, racial canons pertaining to the identity of biracial Americans assume the force and merit of fact.

In the search for knowledge and scientific evidence the weight of canons is not irrelevant to the direction of sociological conclusions. Assumed truths may be expressed directly or indirectly to explain certain social phenomena. This allows for particular bodies of knowledge to be implicitly defined by canons. Occasionally, more explicitly, canons define a social phenomenon. For example, the canons of race category define the theory of racial identity by specifying what kinds of attributes designate race. In this instance sociologists frequently make use of what is perceived as universal fact. Racial canons are presented as if there were general agreement about their validity, even though this validity cannot be demonstrated (Bennett, 1996)…

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White Women in Interracial Families: Reflections on Hybridization, Feminine Identities, and Racialized Othering

Gender Issues
Volume 14, Number 2 (June, 1994)
pages 49-72
Print ISSN: 1098-092X, Online ISSN: 1936-4717
DOI: 10.1007/BF02685656

Carmen Luke, Emeritus Associate Professor of Education, and Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies
James Cook University, Queensland, Australia

Interracial unions, biracial and bicultural children are social facts of modern multicultural societies, yet they have been almost completely overlooked by scholars. What little research is available on interracial family formations and identity is largely based in psychological, sociological, social psychological, social work and counselling theories. Interracialism has not been taken up at all by feminists, postcolonial theorists, or multicultural research.

This essay is concerned with race and gender identity politics among white women living in interracial relationships, particularly in families with biracial and monoracial children. I report here on published research on inter- and biracialism, and include some data from pilot interviews I conducted with white women in interracial families with whom I share work relationships and friendships. I discuss, first, the politics of voice and identity in the context of current debate over speaking rights, racial and cultural identities. I then briefly survey recent research on biracial children before turning attention to white women in interracial relationships. Drawing on existing research and my own data, I discuss relationships between interracial couples and their own parents, the politics of managing their biracial children’s schooling, and the often contradictory logics of the cultural and gender regimes women marry into. I conclude that current theories of identity politics are analytically inadequate for describing how racisms operate within a racially unmarked dominant culture because racial identity is theorized exclusively as an identity marker of groups and persons of color…

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Are multiracial adolescents at greater risk? Comparisons of rates, patterns, and correlates of substance use and violence between monoracial and multiracial adolescents.

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
Volume 76, Number 1 (January, 2006)
pages 86-97
DOI: 10.1037/0002-9432.76.1.86

Yoonsun Choi, Associate Professor of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago

Tracy W. Harachi, Associate Professor of Social Work
University of Washington

Mary Rogers Gillmore, Director and Professor of Social Work
Arizona State University

Richard F. Catalano, Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Director, Social Development Research Group
University of Washington

Rates and patterns of substance use and violent behaviors among multiracial adolescents were examined and compared with 3 monoracial groups, European, African, and Asian Americans. The relationships between ethnic identity and the subjective experience of racial discrimination, substance use, and violent behavior were also examined. The authors found multiracial adolescents reporting higher rates of problem behaviors. Several significant relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination were found with these problem behaviors.

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Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial Families

American Journal of Sociology
Volume 112, Number 4 (January 2007)
pages 1044–1094
ISSN: 0002-9602/2007/11204-0003
DOI: 10.1086/508793

Simon Cheng, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Connecticut

Brian Powell, Rudy Professor of Sociology
Indiana University

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99, the authors examine the extent to which biracial families differ from monoracial families in their transmission of resources to young children. In these analyses, the authors demonstrate the utility of distinguishing not only between white—biracial and nonwhite—biracial families and but also between even more refined measures of biracial families (e.g., white father/Asian mother). The authors find that, in most cases, biracial families provide comparable or greater economic and cultural resources to their children than do their monoracial counterparts, but offer fewer advantages in interactional/social resources. This overall pattern remains even after sociodemographic factors are taken into consideration. Exceptions to this pattern also are identified and explored. Implications for our understanding of racial stratification, interracial relations, and the role of both human agency and constraints on intergenerational transmission of resources are discussed.

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Biracial identity and social marginality

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
Issue Volume 7, Number 4 (August, 1990)
Pages 319-337
Print ISSN: 0738-0151, Online ISSN: 1573-2797
DOI 10.1007/BF00757029

Philip M. Brown
Phoebe Hart House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

This comparative analysis of classic and recent literature explores the developmental and social implications of biracial identity in the U.S. Though specific attention was given to Black-White biracial persons, a broader analysis yielded some surprising insights into the nature and implications of the biracial personality and the accompanying differences in interpersonal styles and social relationships.

Despite the persistent cultural stereotypes depicting the United States as a cultural melting pot, rigid divisions between economic, class, racial and ethnic groups endure. Ours is a heavily stratified society with distinct boundaries and rigid barriers around socially defined groups, roles and status positions. These circumstances are difficult enough for Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and other groups who do not fit neatly into mainstream White society (and are, therefore, socially marginal). However, what happens to those individuals whose racial and cultural heritage is rooted in both White and non-White groups? These individuals belong to both while simultaneously not fully belonging to either (e.g. Black and Caucasian). Dual racial identity likewise implies a dual ethnic and cultural focus as well. For the biracial person these two cultural connections are reflected in the type of life one leads; the nature of one’s achievements and failures; as well as other social attitudes and aspirations…

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A Clearer Picture of Multiracial Substance Use: Rates and Correlates of Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Multiracial Adolescents and Adults

Race and Social Problems
Volume 2, Number 1 (March 2010)
Published online: 2010-03-12
18 pages
Print ISSN: 1867-1748, Online ISSN: 1867-1756 (Online)
DOI: 10.1007/s12552-010-9023-1

George G. Chavez
Rutgers University

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

Existing studies indicate that multiracial adolescents face greater substance use rates than monoracial adolescents. However, it is unclear whether the risk identified in adolescence persists into adulthood. The current study uses data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey to analyze the alcohol and tobacco use of multiracial adolescents and adults compared to European American, African American, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and Latino American individuals. Results generally support the hypothesis that multiracial adolescents and adults face higher rates of substance use than African American and Asian/Pacific Islander American individuals, though this pattern of results was reversed in comparison with Native Americans and European Americans, and less consistent compared to Latino Americans. We further establish and discuss the correlates of drinking and smoking behavior for mixed-race individuals—comparing them to other racial groups. We review the limitations of our design and the implications for future research on multiracial substance use.

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In Their Siblings’ Voices: White Non-Adopted Siblings Talk About Their Experiences Being Raised with Black and Biracial Brothers and Sisters

Columbia University Press
May 2009
248 pages
5 tables
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-231-14850-4
Paper ISBN: 978-0-231-14851-1

Rita J. Simon, University Professor Emerita
Department of Justice, Law and Society
American University, Washington, D.C.

In Their Siblings’ Voices shares the stories of twenty white non-adopted siblings who grew up with black or biracial brothers and sisters in the late 1960s and 1970s. Belonging to the same families profiled in Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda’s In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories and In Their Parents’ Voices: Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees, these siblings offer their perspectives on the multiracial adoption experience, which, for them, played out against the backdrop of two tumultuous, politically charged decades. Simon and Roorda question whether professionals and adoption agencies adequately trained these children in the challenges presented by blended families, and they ask if, after more than thirty years, race still matters. Few books cover both the academic and the human dimensions of this issue. In Their Siblings’ Voices helps readers fully grasp the dynamic of living in a multiracial household and its effect on friends, school, and community.