{"id":1781,"date":"2009-10-10T15:43:37","date_gmt":"2009-10-10T15:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2011-12-14T03:29:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T03:29:55","slug":"multiracial-identity-integration-perceptions-of-conflict-and-distance-among-multiracial-individuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=1781","title":{"rendered":"Multiracial Identity Integration: Perceptions of Conflict and Distance among Multiracial Individuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiracial Identity Integration: Perceptions of Conflict and Distance among Multiracial Individuals<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Journal of Social Issues<\/em>
\nVol. 65, No. 1, 2009
\npp. 51–68<\/p>\n

Chi-Ying Cheng<\/a><\/strong>, Assistant Professor of Psychology
\nSingapore Management University<\/em><\/p>\n

Fiona Lee<\/a><\/strong>, Professor of Psychology
\nUniversity of Michigan<\/em><\/p>\n

This article examines how multiracial individuals negotiate their different and sometimes conflicting racial identities. Drawing from previous work on bicultural identity integration (see Benet-Mart\u0131nez & 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.\u00a0 We also found that recalling positive multiracial experiences increased MII, while recalling negative multiracial experiences decreased MII.\u00a0 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s 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).\u00a0As a response, a federal task force was created to examine whether census forms should include a new racial classification of \u201cmultiracial\u201d (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).<\/p>\n

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). \u00a0For 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).\u00a0 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…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,33,125,6,394,20],"tags":[269,270,107],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-census","category-identitydevelopment","category-new-media","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-chi-ying-cheng","tag-fiona-lee","tag-journal-of-social-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}