(Multi)Racial Socialization, Positive Identity Development, and Self-Identification Choices Among Multiracial Americans

• In Event: 2166 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 7: Multi-Racial & Mixed Race Identity

Abstract

The multiracial population in America has steadily increased over time, particularly since the legalization of interracial marriage in 1967. While academic study of this population has grown in recent years, there are still holes to fill in this literature. This study examines the relationship between racial socialization, positive identity development, and self-identification choices among multiracial Americans. While most research on multiracials studies the experiences of particular groups with shared mixtures in their racial background, I examine this population in the aggregate to uncover broader patterns in the multiracial experience. In particular, I use data from Pew Research Center to examine how often multiracial individuals received (verbal) racial socialization from their parents about being more than one race. This is a question that to my knowledge has not been asked in prior quantitative studies and is often only asked implicitly in qualitative investigations. Logistic regression analyses show a positive relationship between frequency of multiracial socialization and frequency of feeling proud of having a multiracial background. However, multiracial socialization does not predict choices in self-identification on surveys. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in the context of moving forward with studies of multiracial identity and identification.

Author

• Simone Nicole Durham, University of Maryland, College Park