The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity

Brunsma, David L.; Rockquemore, Kerry Ann

doi:10.1207/s1532706xid0103_03

Cited by 140 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Renn=s findings along with other researchers (Brunsma and Rockquemore, 2001) suggest that higher health and behavior risks might continue into young adulthood and into the college environment. Gillem, Cohn and Throne (2001) used grounded theory analysis to explore the history and current perspective of two multiracial college students using a case study approach.…”

Section: College Experiencementioning

confidence: 76%

“…Previous quantitative research is scattered in approaches toward this issue. Many studies were limited to Black/White participants (Brown, 1995;Brunsma & Rockquemore, 2001;Field, 1996) while others focused on selective mixes (Harris & Sim, 2002;Mukoyama, 1998). Several specified all individual monoracial categories and aggregated multiracial mixes (Lesure-Lester, 2001;Martinez & Dukes, 1997) and others aggregated monoracial, including White and minority, and aggregated multiracial mixes (Phinney & Alipuria, 1996).…”

Section: Race Specific Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychological Adjustment, Behavior, and Health Problems in Multiracial Young Adults

Kelley¹

2007

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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This study: (1) examined whether multiracial young adults reported lower levels of well-being relative to their White and monoracial minority peers and whether these outcomes were moderated by college attendance or racial identification; and (2) and 9,343 White) the multiracial young adults reported statistically higher levels of depression, drug abuse and physical limitations, and lower levels of self worth than their monoracial counterparts. Effect sizes (partial eta squared), however, were so small, varying between .001 and .003, that these statistical findings did not represent meaningful differences. Therefore, the current study found evidence of fewer difficulties of multiracial young adults relative to their monoracial peers, when compared to previous researchers who studied the same sample as adolescents and found consistent patterns of negative well-being (Milan & Keiley, 2000;Udry et al., 2003). In part this may be because previous researchers did not present effect sizes. Using a second subset of 8,978 participants (402 multiracial, 2,617 monoracial minority, and 5,959 White) a two phased, multi-group structural equation model examined the relationship between adolescence and young adulthood factors and found that multiracial participants had the highest path coefficients for depression and living with both biological parents in comparison to their monoracial counterparts. College attendance was found to not change the relationship of multiracial young adults on reported well-being outcomes in comparison to their monoracial counterparts. In the area of multiracial identification, there was no evidence that multiracial young adults who reported their racial category as multiracial versus monoracial exhibited higher well-being outcomes. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

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Section: College Experiencementioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Race Specific Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Adjustment, Behavior, and Health Problems in Multiracial Young Adults

Kelley¹

2007

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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“…To assess racial identification, Brunsma and Rockquemore (2001) conducted research with 177 white and black biracial people from two colleges located in a large mid-western city. The majority of respondents (56%), irrespective of skin-color hues, defined themselves as "ambiguous though most people assume I am black."…”

Section: Review Of the Research On White Mothers Of Biracial Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relevance of Non-Colorblind Talk Between White Women and Non-White Children in the United States: A Discussion

Robinson-Wood

2015

ijcyfs

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Abstract:The social construction of race in Western, and particularly American, contexts has contributed to white people not having to think about the personal meaning of being white and not needing to understand the relevance of race in the lives of people of color. The implications of this racial dynamic are considered in light of American demographic data documenting that the majority of mothers of black and white biracial children are white women. A number of American national and international research studies and literature reviews from Britain, Canada, and New Zealand that investigate white women's experiences mothering non-white children are reviewed. The majority of the research on interracial families emphasizes black and white families as they represent the largest racial groups. This demographic trend will frame the current discussion. Historical dimensions of race in America are discussed, including the social construction of race, which has implications for the content of racial socialization messages transmitted by white mothers to their non-white children. An overview of cultural forces that contribute to colorblind talk between white mothers and their non-white children is provided.Keywords: Interracial families; white mothers; biraciality; racial socialization; racism; whiteness Tracy L. Robinson-Wood, Ed.D. is a Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology, Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02115. E-mail: tr.robinson@neu.edu International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies (2015) 6(4.1): 646-661 647 Never in the history of the United States have there been so many white women mothering non-white children, through adoption and by birth. Black and white biracial children are products of both marital and non-marital unions. Since the repeal of miscegenation laws in 1967, black and white marriages have been on the increase in a post-1960s Civil Rights Movement era. Nearly two-thirds of black and white marriages are between black men and white women (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Between 1990 and 2010, this dyad saw a 132% increase in biracial births. The black woman-white man dyad, a much smaller group, saw a 152% increase in biracial births in the same period (B. Hamilton, personal communication, January 11, 2013). As shown in Tables 1 and 2, the majority of black and white biracial people have white mothers. Over nine million people, nearly 3% of the U.S. population, report more than one race (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011). The largest multiple-race category and the one that increased most between 2000 and 2010, is white and black, with 1.8 million people. Between 2000 and 2010, the two or more races population increased 32% total, whereas the U.S. population grew 10% (Jones & Bullock, 2012). Of the nearly 4 million children born in the U.S. each year, 77% were to white women (Martin et al., 2012), and most of these were monoracial. In interracial relationships between white and non-white, gendered and racial patt...

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“…Brunsma and Rockquemore (2002) interviewed 177 multiracial individuals. People with very light (or very dark)…”

Section: B Biological Views Of Race Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives and Research on the Concept of Race within the Framework of Multiracial Identity

Aumer

Hatfield

Swann

et al. 2011

IJPR

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In recent years, according to U. S. Census reports, the number of people who classify themselves as "mixed race" is rapidly increasing. As a consequence, scholars have become increasingly interested in the nature of racial identity. Currently, scholars and laypersons tend to view the concept of race from a biological perspective, from a social-constructivist perspective, or from a mixture of the two. In this paper, we address several questions: How do political, religious, and legal experts classify various people (racially)? How do men and women (especially those of mixed ancestry) decide to what race they belong? Does one's own identity, be it monoracial or multiracial, influence one's perception of race as socially constructed or biologically determined? In order to understand how the concept of race is viewed in the U. S.-especially as the American landscape becomes increasingly complex-we reviewed 40 studies, conducted from 1986-2006, that explored the nature of racial and ethnic identity. This comprehensive review suggested that: 1. Americans often find it difficult to classify people of mixed ancestry. 2. Men and women (of mixed race) generally possess a complex view of race. They generally agree that race is, at least in part, a social construct. Nonethess, they are well aware that (at least in society's eyes) ancestry, appearance, "blood," and genetic make-up also play a part in one's racial classification. 3. Multiracials appear to be more flexible in "choosing" a racial identity than are their peers. How they choose to present themselves depends on their physical appearance, how accepting their family and friends are of their claims, and how profitable they think it will be to identify with various aspects of their racial heritage.

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The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity

Cited by 140 publications

References 38 publications

Psychological Adjustment, Behavior, and Health Problems in Multiracial Young Adults

Psychological Adjustment, Behavior, and Health Problems in Multiracial Young Adults

The Relevance of Non-Colorblind Talk Between White Women and Non-White Children in the United States: A Discussion

Perspectives and Research on the Concept of Race within the Framework of Multiracial Identity

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