Contributions of Skin Tone Self-Assessment to Ego Resiliency for Multiracial Adolescents

• In Event: Complexities and Opportunities of Conceptualizing Race as Multidimensional

Abstract

Social science consistently reports that human societies recognize variations in social status (Glenn, 2009). Illustrations include caste systems of India, New Spain, and Japan as well as the proximal and resistant customs of this nation’s Jim Crow traditions (e.g., see Wagatsuma, 1968; Beteille, 1968). In fact, the U.S. recently celebrated the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation which was fraught with controversy and continues to represent multiple perspectives: an achieved national eminence as viewed by some; a status of active, unconscious and unacknowledged resistance, understood by various citizens; and as a dismal failure inferred by others. The historical etiology of color consciousness has been reported from a variety of perspectives (Glenn, 2009); however, the attitudinal differences concerning race and group membership generally fail to incorporate developmental considerations. Lacking are analyses which consider how the nation’s dissonance concerning color, race and ethnicity is understood by diverse youth across racial and ethnic communities (Elmore, 2009; Fegley et al 2008).
The United States lacked public hearings similar to those held by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the end of that nation’s Apartheid tradition. Thus, there lacked formal and public opportunities to speculate about how biased U.S. traditions impacted the humanity of its citizens. The absence may have contributed to the continuing salience of color for the stable experience of opportunity and privilege for this nation’s youth.
The empirical data which serve to illustrate the complexity of insights as inferred by youth represent a longitudinal randomized field trial. The study included a low-income, multi-ethnic urban sample of youth residing in two northeastern U. S. cities and who differed by skin tone. The virtual 1200 students of the sample were 2/3 female, enrolled in each of the 9th, 10th and 11th grades and by race/ethnicity included 58% Black, 16% Hispanic, 11% Asian, 6% white and the remainder of multi-ethnic youth self-identified as “other.” Students completed a written baseline survey, annual surveys while in high school, and a postsecondary survey after leaving high school. The project emphasized the role of skin tone beliefs for youth development (see Fegley et al 2008) and hypothesized the implications for academic processes and outcomes). Among others, measures and variables included Ego Resiliency and Skin Tone (self) assessment.

Obtained differences are discussed from a developmental theoretical framework which considered the role of youths’ meaning making and their implications for schooling and more general ego identity processes. Findings included a relationship between race/ethnicity and ego resiliency. To illustrate, ego resiliency and race/ethnicity interacted with skin color suggesting that primarily Black girls show differences in ego resiliency according to skin color. Unexpected was that Black girls who identify their skin color as light report lower ego resiliency than White girls. However, ego resiliency of medium and dark-skinned Black girls is not different from that of White girls. Overall, findings suggest complex relationships between ego resiliency, skin tone and race-ethnicity.

Author

• Margaret Beale Spencer, University of Chicago