Racing to Theory or Retheorizing Race? Understanding the Struggle to Build a Multiracial Identity Theory

Abstract

Empirical research on the growing multiracial population in the United States has focused largely on the documentation of racial identification, analysis of psychological adjustment, and understanding the broader political consequences of mixed-race identification. Efforts toward theory construction on multiracial identity development, however, have been largely disconnected from empirical data, mired in disciplinary debates, and bound by historically specific assumptions about race and racial group membership. This study provides a critical overview of multiracial identity development theories, examines the links between theory and research, explores the challenges to multiracial identity theory construction, and proposes considerations for future directions in theorizing racial identity development among the mixed-race population.In the United States, debate over how individuals with parents of different races (i.e., mixed-race people) would be racially categorized in the 2000 Census focused national attention on this growing population. Underlying the debate over whether or not to add a stand-alone "multiracial" category was the difference between the identity of mixed-race people and the identification of them by others and the state (Brunsma, 2006). On one side of the debate, a coalition of various activists, scholars, and pundits argued that increasing rates of interracial marriage since the Civil Rights Movement had created a "biracial baby boom." They argued that such demographic shifts necessitated the addition of a "multiracial"

Examining Multiracial Youth in Context: Ethnic Identity Development and Mental Health Outcomes

“…Research on the identity development of multiracial adolescents remains scant (Renn, 2008;Rockquemore et al 2009). The purpose of this study was to explore the differential impact of school diversity and investigate the components of ethnic identity on outcomes of multiracial adolescents.…”

“…In recent years, interest in the identity development of multiracial individuals has increased with the population (Renn, 2008). However, the research on the identity development of multiracial adolescents still remains scant (Renn, 2008;Rockquemore et al, 2009).…”

“…Terms such as "marginal man" were used to describe multiracial individuals who did not fit into one specific racial group and thus, were on the margins of multiple groups (Rockquemore et al, 2009;Shih & Sanchez, 2005;Stonequist, 1937). In recent years, interest in the identity development of multiracial individuals has increased with the population (Renn, 2008).…”

Beyond Discrete Categories: Studying Multiracial, Intersex, and Transgender Children Will Strengthen Basic Developmental Science

“…Research that has embraced greater complexity in category boundaries has benefitted the field by providing a more accurate picture of racial perception (Dunham, Stepanova, et al, 2014;, racial socialization (Rockquemore et al, 2009), and the dynamics of racial identification (Gaither, Chen, et al, 2014). Future work can build on these findings by continuing to build more of the world's real complexity into research designs.…”

“…Thus, it seems clear that biracial and multiracial children are traveling along developmental trajectories that may differ in critical ways from their monoracial peers, with distinct implications for the development of social categorization and social identity (Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado, 2009). Some research has begun to characterize these trajectories, suggesting, for example, that biracial children possess more sophisticated knowledge of race-related perceptual cues as well as more flexible racial identification (Chiong, 1998;Poston, 2011).…”