Mixed Race Studies

Perspectives and Research on the Positive and Negative Implications of Having Multiple Racial Identities

Psychological Bulletin
Volume 131, Number 4 (June 2005)
pages 569–591
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.131.4.569

Margaret Shih, Professor in Management and Organizations
Anderson School of Management
University of California, Los Angeles

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Social Psychology
Rutgers University

Much attention has been directed toward understanding the impact having a multiracial background has on psychological well-being and adjustment. Past psychological research has focused on the challenges multiracial individuals confront in defining a racial identity. The implication is that these challenges lead to outcomes that are psychologically detrimental. However, evidence to support this assertion is mixed.  The authors review qualitative and quantitative empirical research examining multiracial individuals’ identity development, depression, problem behaviors, peer relationships, school performance, and selfesteem, finding support for detrimental outcomes only in studies sampling clinical populations. Studies on nonclinical samples find that multiracial individuals tend to be just as well-adjusted as their monoracial peers on most psychological outcomes. Earlier assertions of maladjustment may have been due to reliance on qualitative research that sampled clinical populations. Other implications and futureresearch are discussed.

Tiger Woods has received much attention, not only for being the youngest person to win the prestigious Masters Golf Tournament, but also for being an individual of mixed-race ancestry. His father is Black, Native American, and Chinese, and his mother is Thai, Chinese, and White. Woods represents a growing trend in American society. Since the repeal in 1967 of miscegenation laws prohibiting racial mixing, the number of interracial marriages in the United States has increased dramatically (Kennedy, 2003; Root, 2001). Consequently, the number of individuals who can claim membership in multiple racial categories has also increased dramatically (Root, 1996). The population of multiracial children has multiplied from 500,000 in 1970 to more than 6.8 million in 2000 (Jones & Symens Smith, 2001).

This explosion in the number of individuals with multiracial backgrounds has raised the issue of understanding where these individuals fit into preexisting social categories. Nowhere is this difficulty more clearly illustrated than in the controversy over whether the 2000 Census should have included a multiracial category.  Until then, individuals of mixed ancestry had to choose between their component identities on the census form. However, multiracial groups have argued that picking just one identity forces multiracial individuals to deny other parts of themselves (Gaskins, 1999) and does not accurately reflect the nation’s true racial make-up (Holmes, 1997). On the other hand, prominent civil rights activists, such as Jesse Jackson and Kweisi Mfume, argued against the creation of a separate multiracial category in order to preserve minority numbers and maintain political influence (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002).

A federal task force was set up to investigate the political and social implications of creating a new racial classification (Holmes, 1997).  The task force asked questions such as, “If a multiracial category were included, would all people with different combinations of racial backgrounds, such as Black/Asian and Native American/White, be considered members of the same group?  Would there still be individuals with multiracial identities who would choose to identify by a single race?” This issue was finally resolved in 1997, when it was recommended that the category “multiracial” should not be included in census forms but that instead multiracial individuals could check off more than one racial category.

This controversy illustrates that having a multiracial identity challenges American society’s traditional notions and assumptions about race and racial categories (Johnson, 1992; Ramirez, 1996; Root, 1992; Spickard, 1992). Given the seeming difficulty American society has with trying to understand the notion of multiracial identity, psychologists have begun studying many of those questions considered by the U.S. Census Bureau Task Force, such as, how do multiracial individuals understand their racial identities? In addition, because multiracial families and multiracial individuals may pose a challenge to existing racial categories and the social systems upon which these categories rest, psychologists have become interested in understanding the consequence of coming from a multiracial background and in identifying the tremendous difficulties multiracial families and multiracial individuals encounter in navigating their social world (Gibbs, 1987, 1989; Root, 1992). For example, multiracial families contend with hardships such as a lack of social recognition (Nakashima, 1996), disapproval from extended family, exclusion from neighborhood and community (Kerwin & Ponterotto, 1995; Kerwin, Ponterotto, Jackson, & Harris, 1993), discrimination, and social isolation (Brown, 1995; Gaskins, 1999)…

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The Social Construction of Race: Biracial Identity and Vulnerability to Stereotypes

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume 13, Number 2 (April 2007)
pages 125–133
DOI: 10.1037/1099-9809.13.2.125

Margaret Shih, Assistant Professor, Organizational Psychology
University of Michigan

Courtney M. Bonam
Stanford University

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

Courtney Peck
Harvard University

Multiracial individuals are more likely to have a heightened awareness of race as a social construct than monoracial individuals.  This article examines the impact that a heightened awareness of race as a social construct has on the relationship between racial stereotypes and performance. Study 1 finds that multiracial individuals reported subscribing less to the notion that race biologically determines ability.  Study 2 finds that monoracial individuals show stereotype activation, whereas multiracial individuals show stereotype inhibition in reaction to race salience. Study 3 draws on the work on stereotypes and performance to test the susceptibility of multiracial individuals to racial stereotypes about ability.  The authors find that Asian/White and Black/White multiracial individuals were less susceptible to racial stereotypes than monoracial individuals. Whereas monoracial participants showed significant performance changes in reaction to race salience, multiracial individuals did not. Study 4 finds that emphasizing the social construction of race buffers individuals from stereotype threat effects.

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Not So Black and White: Memory for Ambiguous Group Members

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Published by The American Psychological Association
2009, Vol. 96, No. 4
795–810 0022-3514/09
DOI: 10.1037/a0013265

Kristin Pauker
Tufts University

Max Weisbuch
Tufts University

Nalini Ambady, Professor and Neubauer Faculty Fellow
Tufts University

Samuel R. Sommers
Tufts University

Reginald B. Adams, Jr., Assistant Professor of Psychology
Pennsylvania State University University Park Campus

Zorana Ivcevic
Tufts University

Exponential increases in multiracial identities, expected over the next century, create a conundrum for perceivers accustomed to classifying people as their own- or other-race. The current research examines how perceivers resolve this dilemma with regard to the own-race bias. The authors hypothesized that perceivers are not motivated to include ambiguous-race individuals in the in-group and therefore have some difficulty remembering these individuals. Both racially ambiguous and other-race faces were misremembered more often than own-race faces (Study 1), though memory for ambiguous faces was improved among perceivers motivated to include biracial individuals in the in-group (Study 2). Racial labels assigned to racially ambiguous faces determined memory for these faces, suggesting that uncertainty provides the motivational context for discounting ambiguous faces in memory (Study 3). Finally, an inclusion motivation fostered cognitive associations between racially ambiguous faces and the in-group. Moreover, the extent to which perceivers associated racially ambiguous faces with the in-group predicted memory for ambiguous faces and accounted for the impact of motivation on memory (Study 4). Thus, memory for biracial individuals seems to involve a flexible person construal process shaped by motivational factors.

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Multiracial Faces: How Categorization Affects Memory at the Boundaries of Race

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 69-86
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01588.x

Kristin Pauker
Tufts University

Nalini Ambady
Tufts University

Monoracial and multiracial individuals are likely to have different conceptualizations of race and subsequently different approaches toward racial ambiguity.  In particular, monoracial individuals may be more likely to rely on categories when processing ambiguous faces, whereas multiracial individuals may tend to ignore such categorizations due to a reduced tendency to essentialize race.  We compared monoracial (White and Asian) and biracial (Asian/White) individuals’ memory patterns.  Specifically, we examined participants’ memory for White, Asian, and biracial faces labelled as either White or Asian.  Both White and Asian participants relied on the labels, remembering faces labeled as the in-group better than faces labeled as the out-group. Biracial participants relied less on the labels, exhibiting better recognition memory overall. Biracial participants’ memory performance was also highly correlated with a less essentialist view of human traits.  This cognitive flexibility may serve an adaptive function for biracial individuals and contribute to enhanced facial recognition.

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To Disclose or Not to Disclose Biracial Identity: The Effect of Biracial Disclosure on Perceiver Evaluations and Target Responses

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 129-149
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01591.x

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

Courtney M. Bonam
Stanford University

Are biracial people perceived more negatively than their monoracial counterparts? Across two studies, we compared ratings of warmth, competence, and minority scholarship worthiness for biracial (Study 1: Black/White, Study 2: Asian/White), White, and minority (Study 1: Black, Study 2: Asian) college applicants.  Findings suggest that both biracial applicants were perceived as colder and sometimes less competent than both White and corresponding minority applicants.  Moreover, biracial people were also perceived as less qualified for minority scholarships than other racial minorities, which is partially explained by penalties to warmth and competence. Study 3 shows that disclosing one’s biracial identity makes biracial people vulnerable to negative feedback.  Taken together, these studies suggest that biracial people who disclose their biracial identity experience bias from perceivers and may be more vulnerable to that bias because of the personal nature of racial disclosure.  Findings are discussed considering the stereotype content model (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007), cultural stereotypes about biracial people (Jackman, Wagner, & Johnson, 2001), and the costs of disclosing devalued identities.

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Plus ça Change? Multiraciality and the Dynamics of Race Relations in the United States

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 205-219
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01595.x

Frank D. Bean, Chancellor’s Professor
School of Social Sciences
University of California, Irvine

Jennifer Lee, Associate Professor, Sociology
School of Social Sciences
University of California, Irvine

The issue of race has long cast a shadow on the founding mythology of the United States, but today some scholars argue race is declining in significance, as evidenced by the rise of interracial unions and the fact that the offspring of such unions can now officially acknowledge their mixed-race backgrounds. However, the sizeable growth of the Asian and Latino populations in the United States through immigration complicates the issue. Seemingly neither black nor white, the new immigrants are generating increased diversity and raising questions about whether today’s color line replicates the old Black–White demarcation.  The research results introduced in this article suggest the contemporary color line in the United States more reflects a Black/non-Black division than a White/non-White one.

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Exploring Multiracial Individuals’ Comfort with Intimate Interracial Relationships

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (2009)
pp. 87–103

Courtney M. Bonam
Stanford University

Margaret Shih, Assistant Professor, Organizational Psychology
University of Michigan

This article explores the relationship between a heightened awareness of race as a social construct and comfort in interracial relationships across varying levels of intimacy among multiracial and monoracial individuals. Study 1 finds that multiracial individuals express higher levels of comfort in intimate interracial relationships than monoracial White and minority individuals. Study 2 finds that belief in race as a social construction mediates the differences between monoracial and multiracial individuals in their comfort in intimate interracial relationships.  Implications of these findings for interracial relationships are discussed.

Interracial relationships in the United States, while on the rise, are still relatively uncommon. Research finds people are more likely to live near (Massey & Denton, 1993; Zubrinsky Charles, 2003), marry (Crary, 2007; Fu, 2001; Lee & Fernandez, 1998; Qian & Lichter, 2001; Root, 2001; Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1990), and develop friendships (Hallinan & Williams, 1989; Moody, 2001; Olfson et al., 2000; Quillian & Campbell, 2003; Tatum, 1997) with those who are ethnically and racially similar to themselves than those who are not. In addition, research suggests that the few interracial relationships that do form tend to be more superficial in nature than relationships between those from the same ethnic/racial background (Sigelman, Bledsoe, Welch, & Combs, 1996; Welch, Sigelman, Bledsoe, & Combs, 2001).  Towles-Schwen and Fazio (2003) found that people’s comfort with interracial relationships tends to be greater at lower levels of intimacy than at higher levels. This may impact the type of interactions that may occur in interracial relationships.  For example, Welch and colleagues (2001) found White families rarely enter the homes of their Black neighbors even though they may have frequent positive interactions and consider these families to be part of their social network.

While this evidence suggests people in the general population are less comfortable with more intimate interracial relationships, the bulk of this research has focused on monoracial populations.We propose these interracial relationship patterns are less likely to be observed among multiracial individuals.  Specifically, multiracial individuals will report more comfort with intimate interracial relationships than will monoracial people of White or minority descent…

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Multiracial Identity Integration: Perceptions of Conflict and Distance among Multiracial Individuals

Journal of Social Issues
Vol. 65, No. 1, 2009
pp. 51–68

Chi-Ying Cheng, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Singapore Management University

Fiona Lee, Professor of Psychology
University of Michigan

This article examines how multiracial individuals negotiate their different and sometimes conflicting racial identities. Drawing from previous work on bicultural identity integration (see Benet-Martınez & Haritatos, 2005), we proposed a new construct, multiracial identity integration (MII), to measure individual differences in perceptions of compatibility between multiple racial identities. We found that MII is composed of two independent subscales: racial distance that describes whether different racial identities are perceived as disparate, and racial conflict that describes whether different racial identities are perceived as in conflict.  We also found that recalling positive multiracial experiences increased MII, while recalling negative multiracial experiences decreased MII.  These findings have implications for understanding the psychological well-being of multiracial individuals, and the development of social policy and programs catered to this population.

In today’s increasingly global, mobile, and racially integrated world, more and more people identify with and claim membership in more than one racial group, making the multiracial population a noteworthy demographic group in the United States (Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado, 2009; Shih & Sanchez, 2005). As a response, a federal task force was created to examine whether census forms should include a new racial classification of “multiracial” (Holmes, 1997). This demographic trend challenges traditional notions that racial categories are discrete, extends current thinking about intergroup racial relations, and has important implications for political and social policy (Pittinsky & Montoya, 2009; Shih & Sanchez, 2009).

Even though multiracial individuals do not necessarily have lower levels of psychological well-being and social adjustment, they face unique challenges in managing two or more different racial identities (Shih & Sanchez, 2005).  For example, multiracial individuals are more likely to encounter disapproval and discrimination from their extended families, neighborhoods, and larger communities (Kerwin & Ponterotto, 1995). They are also more likely to experience social isolation (Brown, 1995; Gaskins, 1999; Nakashima, 1996).  In this article, we investigate how multiracial individuals reconcile the differences and tensions between their different racial identities, and how these dynamics are influenced by their racial experiences…

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…Marriage between blacks, whites and Indians was legal in Virginia for most of the 17th century. Genealogist Paul Heinegg found that 99% of all mixed children in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the Carolinas before 1810 came from intermarriages of free blacks with whites. Cases of white masters having children by black slaves were virtually non-existence, making up only one percent of the mixed mulatto population…

Tim Hashaw,  “MALUNGU: The African Origin of the American Melungeons,” Electica (July/August 2001). http://www.eclectica.org/v5n3/hashaw.html.

…From the 1620s, in southern British colonies like Virginia, white northern Europeans intermarried with Indians.  They also intermarried with Africans who began entering the American colonies as early as 1619.  Melungeons originate from these red, white and black peoples in this period of American history.  They began forming identifiable separate mixed communities when the first anti-African laws started restricting some of their freedoms by 1660…

Tim Hashaw,  “MALUNGU: The African Origin of the American Melungeons,” Electica  (July/August 2001), http://www.eclectica.org/v5n3/hashaw.html.