Mixed Race Studies

Racial Socialization of Biracial Adolescents

Kent State University
May 2006
158 pages

Ja’Nitta Marbury
Marbury & Associates, University Heights, Ohio

A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose in conducting this research was to develop grounded theory regarding the racial socialization process of Biracial adolescents who were the offspring of an African American father and a European American mother. The participants in the study were eight European American mothers of Biracial adolescents ranging in age from 10 to 17 years old. This study was conducted in a qualitative format using individual and focus group interviews to gather data. The study was conducted to lay the foundation for the development of grounded theory on the Biracial socialization process. The grounded theory foundation developed from the results was the Biracial Socialization Spectrum. The Biracial Socialization Spectrum is a tetrahedron with the dynamic process as the base, side one representing the Black/African American parent spectrum, Side two representing the White/European American parent spectrum, and side three representing the Biracial Socialization Spectrum.

Table of Contents

• ACKNOWLEDMENTS
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF TABLES
• I. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
  • History of Biracial People in America
  • Politics of a Biracial Identity
  • Biracial Childhood and Adolescence
  • The Development and Socialization of White Adolescents
  • Racial Socialization
    • Black Racial Socialization
    • Biracial Socialization
  • Parental Racial Socialization Messages
    • White Racial Identity
• II. METHODOLOGY
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Researcher Description
  • Research Design
  • Participants
  • Procedures
    • Individual Interviews
    • Focus Groups
  • Data Analysis
  • Limitations
• III. RESULTS
  • Recruitment
  • Participants
    • Gayl
    • Ananda
    • Kalpana
    • Bridgette
    • Patricia
    • Sandy
    • Ella
    • Sharon
  • Demographics
  • Individual Interviews
  • RQ₁: Research Question 1
    • IQ₁: What does the term Biracial mean to you?
    • IQ₂: What do you think being Biracial means to your child?
  • RQ₂: Research Question 2
    • IQ₃: What strategies, if any, of parenting a Biracial child are you using?
    • SQ₃: How do you process both negative and positive cross-racial encounters with them?
    • IQ₄: How does your child respond to the socialization methods you have tried?
    • IQ₆: How does your family aid in the socialization of your child?
  • RQ₃: Research Question 3
    • IQ₅: What impact does the difference in physical characteristics between you and your child have on how you socialize your child?
  • Focus Group Interview
    • Member Checking
  • Emerging Themes
  • Data Triangulation
    • Peer Reviewers and Researcher
    • Peer Reviewers’ Perceptions
    • Researcher’s Perceptions
  • Delimitations
• IV. DISCUSSION
  • Convergent & Divergent Socialization Process
  • Grounded Theory
    • Biracial Socialization Spectrum
  • Conclusions
    • White Racial Identity
    • Acceptance
    • Family of Origin and Immediate Family Acceptance
    • Social Political Environment
    • Implications For Counselors and Counselor Educators
  • Recommendations
  • The Intention Behind the Study
• APPENDICES
  • APPENDIX A: WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY EGO STATUSES
  • APPENDIX B: DIVERSEGRAD-L LIST-SERV POSTING
  • APPENDIX C: INTRODUCTORY LETTER
  • APPENDIX D: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE
  • APPENDIX E: INFORMATION INDEX CARD
  • APPENDIX F: PEER REVIEWING CONSENT FORM (PARTICIPANT)
  • APPENDIX G: PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM
  • APPENDIX H: AUDIO AND VIDEO TAPE CONSENT FORM
  • APPENDIX I: STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
  • APPENDIX J: PEER REVIEWING CONSENT FORM (PEER REVIEWER)
  • APPENDIX K: RESEARCH QUESTION 1: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX L: RESEARCH QUESTION 1: FOCUS GROUP
  • APPENDIX M: RESEARCH QUESTION 2: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX N: RESEARCH QUESTION 2: FOCUS GROUP
  • APPENDIX O: RESEARCH QUESTION 3: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
  • APPENDIX P: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 1
  • APPENDIX Q: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 2
  • APPENDIX R: TREE NODE DIAGRAM FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 3
• REFERENCES

List of Figures

1. Methodology flow chart
2. Biracial Socialization Spectrum
3. Parental Spectrums (Side 1 & Side 2 Tetrahedron)
4. Dynamic process

List of Tables

1. Participant Education Level
2. Participant Marital Status
3. Participant Annual Household Income
4. Demographic Information Listed by Participant

Read the entire dissertation here.

English 39695-001 ST: Racial Crossings

Kent State University
2006

Martha Cutter, Associate Professor of English

This course will examine literary and cultural treatments of individuals, authors, and characters who cross from one race to another, and sometimes also from one gender to another. This crossing may be metaphorical—for example, a white writer may attempt to write from the point of view of an African American character or a Native American character may try to “transcend” his or her race through various means. This crossing may also be actual—someone who is white may “pass” for black, or someone who is black may “pass” for white. We will look at novels, short stories, poems and films as cultural texts that depict racial crossing and passing. We will ask what these texts tell us about the way race is constructed and configured in society, culture, history, and the law. We will also attempt to understand how artists both assist and resist social and cultural constructions of the meaning of “race.” Does racial crossing fundamentally undermine or stabilize the meaning of “race”?

For more information, click here.

Between boxes

the Burr
Kent State University
Fall 2005
pages 50-55

Story by Jessica Rothschuh
Photo illustration by Clarissa Westmeyer
Photos by Lauren Arendt

For some multiracial students, college becomes a time to discover their heritages and shape their identities

HER DARK HAIR IS PULLED BACK IN BRAIDS, LEAVING HER FACE OPEN, TWO large, dark eyes peering out from long eyelashes. Her skin is a warm almond color. Her ethnicity is hard to put a finger on. She could pass as Hispanic or Native American.

Jalayna Nadal, freshman Latin American studies major from Edinboro, Pa., is both. Her father is black and Cherokee, and her mother is Puerto Rican and white.

Developing her multicultural identity has been a lifelong process for Nadal, and college is a time to further explore her multiple heritages, shaping her cultural identity as she learns more about herself and her roots.

For biracial and multiracial students like Nadal, college may prove both exciting and difficult. Mixed-race students in particular can experience an intense desire to discover their heritages and create their racial identities, but they also can feel pressure to define themselves. For the first time, students are searching for identities outside the environment in which they were raised, without the constant support of family…

…College is another step away from his culture, Isaacs says. “Because I’m not around my father as much, I don’t assert my Hawaiian identity as much.” Here, he hasn’t found a place he really fits in, and when he returns to Hawaii, it is hard to feel he still belongs there, either. “You’re just stuck in limbo,” Isaacs says. “You have to be kind of like a cultural chameleon in a sense.” Isaacs says he adapts his identity to those around him, and it is easy for him to blend in because he looks white.

For some biracial students, however, being a chameleon is hard. “The problem that they face saying, ‘I am biracial,’ is other people saying, ‘No, you’ve got to choose,’ ” says Angela Neal-Barnett, associate professor and research psychologist. “With biracial adolescents, you get two things happening: They choose to identify with one race or they choose to develop a biracial identity.”

For more than five years, Neal-Barnett has been studying the phenomenon of “white acting” in minority adolescents. Through her research, she has talked with biracial youth, most of whom are primarily black and white. “One’s skin color can run the gamut, and one’s hair color and texture can run the gamut. You have students who look white, but their racial identity is black or biracial,” she says. In fact, the biracial adolescents Neal-Barnett has spoken with almost always choose to identify as black or biracial. Very few identify as white…

Read the entire article here.