Mixed Race Studies

Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries: How Asian Immigrant Backgrounds Shape Gender Attitudes About Interethnic Partnering

Journal of Family Issues
Volume 36, Number 10 (August 2015)
pages 1324-1350
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X13504920

Charlie V. Morgan, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Ohio

How do gender attitudes affect second-generation Asian Americans’ decisions to enter into interethnic heterosexual partnerings? A grounded theory approach was applied to 88 in-depth interviews, which represent a subsample of the respondents from Wave III of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. I find that second-generation Asian women seek relationships across ethnic and racial lines as a way to resist patriarchal and gendered attitudes that they perceive are held by men from their own co-ethnic group and often stereotype Asian American men in the process. Cohabitation was also an important aspect of interethnic partnering: Whereas men cohabitated across ethnic and racial lines but typically married co-ethnics (in a process I term imagining the future), women were more likely to resist co-ethnic relationships and crossed ethnic and racial boundaries regardless of the type of relationship.

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The Well-Being of Children Living With Interethnic Parents: Are They at a Disadvantage?

Journal of Family Issues
Volume 33, Number 7 (July 2012)
pages 898-919
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X11420938

Jennifer Pearce-Morris
Department of Sociology
Pennsylvania State University

Valarie King, Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development & Family Studies Director
Pennsylvania State University

An increasing number of U.S. children are living with interethnic parents, yet we know relatively little about how they are faring. Using data from the first wave (1987-1988) of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines differences in child well-being between children living with interethnic parents and those living with same-ethnic parents. Results provide only limited evidence that child well-being is lower among children living with interethnic parents. Compared with children in same-ethnic families, children living with interethnic parents exhibited higher levels of negative affect, and this difference could not be explained by differences in background or family characteristics, levels of parents’ relationship stressors, or parenting quality. At the same time, however, no differences were found in global well-being, positive affect, or behavior problems. Children living with interethnic parents may face some greater difficulties that warrant concern, but they do not appear to face pervasive disadvantages.

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Familial Ethnic Socialization Among Adolescents of Latino and European Descent: Do Latina Mothers Exert the Most Influence?

Journal of Family Issues
Volume 27, Number 2 (February 2006)
Pages 184-207
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X05279987

Andrea G. González
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Associate Professor, School of Social and Family Dynamics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Arizona State University

Mayra Y. Bámaca-Colbert, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Pennsylvania State University

This article examines gender and family composition differences in 98 biethnic adolescents’ reports of familial ethnic socialization and ethnic identity. Using analysis of variance, four groups (i.e., adolescent males with Latina mothers and European American fathers, adolescent females with Latina mothers and European American fathers, adolescent males with European American mothers and Latino fathers, and adolescent females with European American mothers and Latino fathers) are compared on the above measures. Results indicate that sons of Latina mothers reported the highest levels of familial ethnic socialization. No significant differences emerge between groups on a measure of ethnic identity.

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Blurring Racial and Ethnic Boundaries in Asian American Families: Asian American Family Patterns, 1980-2005

Journal of Family Issues
Volume 31, Number 3 (March 2010)
pages 280-300
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X09350870

Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo
University of California, Santa Barbara

Carl L. Bankston, Professor of Sociology
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

In this work, the authors use statistics from the U.S. Census to examine trends in intermarriage, racial and ethnic combinations, and categorizations among Asian Americans. Specifically, the authors want to consider the extent to which family patterns may contribute to Asian Americans and their descendants’ continuing as distinct, becoming members of some new category or categories, or simply becoming White. Based on the data analysis and discussion, it seems most likely that Whiteness will increasingly depend on the situation: Where there are Asians,Whites, and Blacks, Asians will tend to become White. Where there are only Whites, Asians, including even those of multiracial background, may well continue to be distinguished. Yet people in mixed families will be continually crossing all racial and ethnic lines in the United States, and their numbers will steadily increase.

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