Mixed Race Studies

An Intimate Look at Race: Growing Up Biracial in a Racially Torn World

Wellesley Centers for Women
Book Reading \ Panel \ Conversation with Author Sil Lai Abrams
Clapp Library, Lecture Room
Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Tuesday, 2016-10-25, 16:30-17:00 EST (Local Time)

Presenters: Author Sil Lai Abrams with Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., Linda M. Williams, Ph.D.

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Mixed Ancestry Racial/Ethnic Identity Development (MAREID) Model

Wellesley Centers for Women
2003

Peony Fhagen-Smith, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Wheaton College, Norton Massachusetts

To date no theoretical work on racial/ethnic identity development adequately provides a framework for explaining current empirical findings concerning racial/ethnic identification among mixed ancestry youth. This paper reviews current research on the mixed ancestry experience and proposes a mixed ancestry racial/ethnic identity development model that incorporates Rockquemore and Brunsma’s (2002) work on mixed ancestry identity types, Cross and Fhagen-Smith’s (1996, 2001) life-span model of Black identity development, Cross’s (1991) Nigrescence theory, Phinney’s (1989) Ethnic Identity Development Model and Erikson’s (1968) and Marcia’s (1980) work on ego identity development. The proposed model considers contextual influences, fluidity in racial/ethnic identification, and developmental changes over time for three developmental age periods, preadolescence, adolescence, and young adulthood.

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Examining Mixed-Ancestry Identity in Adolescents

Wellesley Centers for Women
Research & Action Report
Fall/Winter 2008

Two years ago, scholars at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) launched a study of racial and ethnic identification among adolescents of mixed ancestry. The reasons for pursuing the research were several. Most literature about ethnic/racial self-identification patterns derived from adult respondents. For example, the series of studies that led to the change in wording of racial self-identification in the 2000 Census was carried out with adults. Little is known about asking racial and ethnic identification questions of adolescents who have more than one racial ethnic ancestry. The WCW research team, led by Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., WCW associate director and senior research scientist, also noted that a growing body of evidence suggested that some mixed-ancestry adolescents have poorer social adjustment outcomes such as depression, substance use, and health problems than their single-race-reporting peers. Whether these youth also have particular strengths had not been systematically studied. Additionally, the beginnings of theoretical models for measuring mixed-racial/ethnic identity development existed but none had been empirically validated with large samples drawn from diverse regions of the U.S. Nor had these models been able to account for the fluidity or variability in self-identification which can vary over time; adolescents of mixed ancestry may report as different single-race or mixed-race at different times and in different situations.

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Complexities in Researching Mixed Ancestry Adolescents: A Preliminary Study

Wellesley Centers for Women
2004

Michelle Porche

Peony Fhagen-Smith, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Wheaton College, Norton Massachusetts

Jo H. Kim

Heidie A. Vázquez García

Allison J. Tracy

Sumru Erkut

Contemporary events, such as the change in the 2000 U.S. Census, highlight the need for a better understanding of political, social, and psychological ramifications of mixed-ancestry identity. To be able to monitor and serve the needs of mixed-ancestry youth, we need to be able to identify who is and is not a mixed-ancestry individual. Subsequently, we need to examine particular risk and protective factors relevant to mixed-ancestry youth. In this paper we review some of the recent literature on mixed-ancestry adolescents’ social adjustment and the assessment of mixed ancestry and present theories of mixed-ancestry identity formation. We then present the results of a preliminary qualitative study of mixed-ancestry college students that illustrate some of the empirical findings and theoretical suppositions.

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