Skin-tone preferences and self-representation in Hispanic children

Abstract

Skin-tone preferences and colourism within Hispanic children have been largely unexamined in the psychological literature. The objectives of the current study were to investigate Hispanic children's skin-tone preferences and the effect of assessor race and ethnicity on those preferences. To carry out the study, Clark and Clark's colouring task was revised and administered to a sample of 52 Hispanic children aged five to seven years. The sample was divided into three conditions, varying by assessor background (Caucasian, Hispanic and African-American). A pronounced preference for lighter skin tones was found among children in the sample, although this preference was moderated by the race and ethnicity of the assessors administering the task. Hispanic children appear to be susceptible to a pro-light skin bias and influence from assessor skin colour as young as five.

The face of STEM: Racial phenotypic stereotypicality predicts STEM persistence by—and ability attributions about—students of color.

“…A smaller number of papers have explored stereotypicality within non-Black groups. Among Latino/as, evidence shows that more-stereotypical U.S. Latino/as earn less (Frank, Akresh, & Lu, 2010), have less prestigious jobs (Espino & Franz, 2002; McGovern, 2017), are less likely to enroll in college (Ryabov & Goza, 2014), have fewer non-Latino/a coworkers (Morales, 2008), are stopped more often by police (White, 2015), and are perceived as less intelligent (Hannon, 2014) and overall less positively by others (Kaufman & Wiese, 2012; Ostfeld, 2017; Uhlmann, Dasgupta, Elgueta, Greenwald, & Swanson, 2002), compared with Latino/as with a less-stereotypical appearance. Among Asian Americans, a more-stereotypical appearance predicts more psychological distress (Lee & Thai, 2015) and lower perceived attractiveness (Wilkins, Chan, & Kaiser, 2011).…”

Investigating Young Children's Dis/ability and Race Concepts Along Three Planes: A Conceptual Critique

“…Based on my conceptual framing, current methodological trends do not go far enough in understanding how young children's conceptualizations of dis/ability and race are dynamically constructed through activity in interpersonal and institutional contexts. Indeed, child interviews, questionnaires, and classroom observations are three types of data collection tools often used to understand young children's personal ideas and behaviors related to dis/ability or race (e.g., Diamond & Tu, 2009;Diamond, Hong, & Tu, 2008;Jordan & Hernandez-Reif, 2009;Kaufman & Wiese, 2012;Novak & Bartelheim;Waxman, 2010;Woods & Poulson, 2006;Yu et al, 2015).…”

Investigating Young Children’s Conceptualizations of Disability and Race: An Intersectional, Multiplane Critique

“…xisting research seeks to understand young children's conceptualizations of disability (Yu et al, 2015) or race (Kaufman & Wiese, 2012). In this essay, I use the term conceptualizations to mean the ways in which young children's cognitive (i.e., awareness, understanding) and affective (i.e., preferences, feelings) processes regarding disability and race are dynamically mediated and produced through interactions in sociopolitical contexts.…”