The Current State of Intersectional Identity Research in Psychology: What we Know, Don't Know, and Where We Ought to go

• In Event: Intersectional Identities: Exploring How the Meaning and Consequences of Social Class Vary among Children Color

Abstract

Numerous social, developmental, and cultural psychologists have put forth guidelines for adapting the critical, social justice-oriented paradigm of intersectionality to the predominantly positivist field of psychology. Yet, to our knowledge, no researchers have offered an overview of the current state of intersectional identity research in psychology. To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review, examining empirical, U.S.-based research to better understand how psychology scholars are interpreting and applying intersectionality to the study of identity.

Of the 279 texts that met our inclusion criteria, 50% were peer-reviewed journal articles, 48% were dissertations, and the remaining 2% were book chapters. Although we did not set any restrictions regarding year of publication, our search yielded work dating only as far back as 2001, highlighting the recent application of this paradigm to psychology. We analyzed each text with regard to (a) who was included in the study sample based on reported demographic information; (b) what identity categories were studied; and (c) how identity was measured.

We found (a) contrary to mainstream psychology research, adults, women, and racial-ethnic and sexual minorities were the most commonly reported sample populations; (b) although race and gender were the identity categories most frequently investigated, 22 unique identity categories were studied across texts, the modal number of identity categories studied in a given text was three; and (c) the majority of texts utilized solely qualitative methods (72%), while a smaller percentage used solely quantitative methods (18%), and the remainder (10%) engaged mixed-methods.

Our results provide a descriptive overview of existing studies as well as questions and directions for future research. These findings reveal the ways in which intersectional identity research diverges from mainstream psychology research, presenting both a promising trend towards a more representative and diverse field, while also underscoring concerns regarding the ongoing devaluing of qualitative methods and research focusing on marginalized populations.

Authors

• Leoandra Onnie Rogers, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ursula Moffitt, Wheaton College Massachusetts
  Non-Presenting Author

• Negin Ghavami, Loyola Marymount University
  Presenting Author

• Dalal Katsiaficas, University of Illinois at Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author