Ethnic Identity as a Mitigator in the Discrimination-Adjustment Relationship: An Exploration of Multiracial Adults and Their Chosen Identities

Ethnic Identity as a Mitigator in the Discrimination-Adjustment Relationship: An Exploration of Multiracial Adults and Their Chosen Identities PDF Author: Andrea E DePetris
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Multiracial individuals are a sizable and growing population, and yet there is a dearth of research focusing exclusively on their distinct experiences, especially pertaining to pervasive social exclusion (i.e., racial discrimination) and cultural belonging. Given that multiracial individuals may experience racial discrimination from U.S. ethnic/racial minority groups and Whites, how they cope is an important area of inquiry. Whereas ethnic/racial identity (ERI) has often been found to psychologically mitigate the negative impact of racial discrimination on well-being among racial/ethnic minorities, fewer studies have examined this association among multiracial individuals. The current study investigates whether ERI moderates the association between racial discrimination and mental/behavioral health outcomes, and whether this association varies by multiracial individuals' self-identified ethnic/racial group affiliation (as multiracial, monoracial minority, White, or nonracial). Secondary analyses were conducted from a nationally-representative dataset that included multiracial college students (n = 696) of diverse racial backgrounds. ERI was conceptualized as ethnic identity affirmation and belonging, and its impact with racial discrimination on depression, generalized anxiety symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, binge drinking, and risky sexual behavior were assessed. Regressions and multivariate analyses were conducted (i.e., ANCOVAS, MANCOVAS, and hierarchical regressions) to test associations among predictors and outcomes, and to examine the interaction of ERI x racial discrimination x ethnic/racial self-identification. Only one significant, 3-way interaction of small magnitude for social anxiety was detected. For students identifying as multiracial, racial discrimination predicted social anxiety at high levels of ERI, whereas for students identifying as White, racial discrimination predicted social anxiety at low levels of ERI. For students identifying as monoracial minority, main effects of racial discrimination on anxiety and depression symptoms were found, as was a significant, positive association of ERI with self-esteem and a significant, negative association of ERI with social anxiety. For students identifying as multiracial, ERI was significantly and positively associated with self-esteem, and significantly and negatively associated with social anxiety. Although little evidence for the buffering effect was found, results suggest that ERI may be a useful construct for multiracial individuals. Future research on multiracial individuals should continue to investigate the bearing of ERI on experiences of social exclusion.

Ethnic Identity as a Mitigator in the Discrimination-Adjustment Relationship: An Exploration of Multiracial Adults and Their Chosen Identities

Ethnic Identity as a Mitigator in the Discrimination-Adjustment Relationship: An Exploration of Multiracial Adults and Their Chosen Identities PDF Author: Andrea E DePetris
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Multiracial individuals are a sizable and growing population, and yet there is a dearth of research focusing exclusively on their distinct experiences, especially pertaining to pervasive social exclusion (i.e., racial discrimination) and cultural belonging. Given that multiracial individuals may experience racial discrimination from U.S. ethnic/racial minority groups and Whites, how they cope is an important area of inquiry. Whereas ethnic/racial identity (ERI) has often been found to psychologically mitigate the negative impact of racial discrimination on well-being among racial/ethnic minorities, fewer studies have examined this association among multiracial individuals. The current study investigates whether ERI moderates the association between racial discrimination and mental/behavioral health outcomes, and whether this association varies by multiracial individuals' self-identified ethnic/racial group affiliation (as multiracial, monoracial minority, White, or nonracial). Secondary analyses were conducted from a nationally-representative dataset that included multiracial college students (n = 696) of diverse racial backgrounds. ERI was conceptualized as ethnic identity affirmation and belonging, and its impact with racial discrimination on depression, generalized anxiety symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, binge drinking, and risky sexual behavior were assessed. Regressions and multivariate analyses were conducted (i.e., ANCOVAS, MANCOVAS, and hierarchical regressions) to test associations among predictors and outcomes, and to examine the interaction of ERI x racial discrimination x ethnic/racial self-identification. Only one significant, 3-way interaction of small magnitude for social anxiety was detected. For students identifying as multiracial, racial discrimination predicted social anxiety at high levels of ERI, whereas for students identifying as White, racial discrimination predicted social anxiety at low levels of ERI. For students identifying as monoracial minority, main effects of racial discrimination on anxiety and depression symptoms were found, as was a significant, positive association of ERI with self-esteem and a significant, negative association of ERI with social anxiety. For students identifying as multiracial, ERI was significantly and positively associated with self-esteem, and significantly and negatively associated with social anxiety. Although little evidence for the buffering effect was found, results suggest that ERI may be a useful construct for multiracial individuals. Future research on multiracial individuals should continue to investigate the bearing of ERI on experiences of social exclusion.

Beyond Black

Beyond Black PDF Author: Kerry Rockquemore
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742560550
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America is a groundbreaking study of the dynamic meaning of racial identity for multiracial people in post-civil rights America. Kerry Ann Rockquemore and David L. Brunsma document the wide range of racial identities that individuals with one black and one white parent develop, and they provide an incisive sociological explanation of the choices facing those who are multiracial. Stemming from the controversy of the 2000 census and whether an additional "multiracial" category should be added to the survey, this second edition of Beyond Black uses both survey data and interviews of multiracial young adults to explore the contemporary dynamics of racial identity formation. The authors raise social and political questions that are posed by expanding racial categorization on the U.S. census. Book jacket.

Choosing Ethnic Identity

Choosing Ethnic Identity PDF Author: Miri Song
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 9780745622774
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Choosing Ethnic Identity explores the ways in which people are able to choose their ethnic identities in contemporary multiethnic societies such as the USA and Britain. Notions such as adopting an identity, or self-designated terms, such as Black British and Asian American, suggest the importance of agency and choice for individuals. However, the actual range of ethnic identities available to individuals and the groups to which they belong are not wholly under their control. These identities must be negotiated in relation to both the wider society and coethnics. The ability of minority individuals and groups to assert or recreate their own self-images and ethnic identities, against the backdrop of ethnic and racial labelling by the wider society, is important for their self-esteem and social status. This book examines the ways in which ethnic minority groups and individuals are able to assert and negotiate ethnic identities of their choosing, and the constraints structuring such choices. By drawing on studies from both the USA and Britain, Miri Song concludes that while significant constraints surround the exercising of ethnic options, there are numerous ways in which ethnic minority individuals and groups contest and assert particular meanings and representations associated with their ethnic identities.

Re/Formation and Identity

Re/Formation and Identity PDF Author: Deborah J. Johnson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303086426X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
This innovative book applies contemporary and emergent theories of identity formation to timely questions of identity re/formation and development in immigrant families across diverse ethnicities and age groups. Researchers from across the globe examine the ways in which immigrants from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America dynamically adjust, adapt, and resist aspects of their identities in their host countries as a form of resilience. The book provides a multidisciplinary approach to studying the multidimensional complexities of identity development and immigration and offers critical insights on the experiences of immigrant families. Key areas of coverage include: Factors that affect identity formation, readjustment, and maintenance, including individual differences and social environments. Influences of intersecting immigrant ecologies such as family, community, and complex multidimensions of culture on identity development. Current identity theories and their effectiveness at addressing issues of ethnicity, culture, and immigration. Research challenges to studying various forms of identity. Re/Formation and Identity: The Intersectionality of Development, Culture, and Immigration is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, professionals, and policymakers in the fields of developmental, social, and cross-cultural psychology, parenting and family studies, social work, and all interrelated disciplines.

Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States

Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States PDF Author: Natalie Masuoka
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190657480
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
While pundits point to multiracial Americans as new evidence of a harmonious ethnic melting pot, in reality mixed race peoples have long existed in the United States. Rather than characterize multiracial Americans as a "new" population, this book argues that instead we should view them as individuals who reflect a new culture of racial identification. Today, identities such as "biracial" or "swirlies" are evoked alongside those more established racial categories of white, black Asian and Latino. What is significant about multiracial identities is that they communicate an alternative viewpoint about race: that a person's preferred self-identification should be used to define a person's race. Yet this definition of race is a distinct contrast to historic norms which has defined race as a category assigned to a person based on certain social rules which emphasized things like phenotype, being "one-drop" of African blood or heritage. In Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States, Natalie Masuoka catalogues how this cultural shift from assigning race to perceiving race as a product of personal identification came about by tracing events over the course of the twentieth century. Masuoka uses a variety of sources including in-depth interviews, public opinion surveys and census data to understand how certain individuals embrace the agency of self-identification and choose to assert multiracial identities. At the same time, the book shows that the meaning and consequences of multiracial identification can only be understood when contrasted against those who identify as white, black Asian or Latino. An included case study on President Barack Obama also shows how multiracial identity narratives can be strategically used to reduce anti-black bias among voters. Therefore, rather than looking at multiracial Americans as a harbinger of dramatic change for American race relations, this Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States shows that narratives promoting multiracial identities are in direct dialogue with, rather than in replacement of, the longstanding racial order.

The Diversity Paradox

The Diversity Paradox PDF Author: Jennifer Lee
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610446615
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
African Americans grappled with Jim Crow segregation until it was legally overturned in the 1960s. In subsequent decades, the country witnessed a new wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America—forever changing the face of American society and making it more racially diverse than ever before. In The Diversity Paradox, authors Jennifer Lee and Frank Bean take these two poles of American collective identity—the legacy of slavery and immigration—and ask if today's immigrants are destined to become racialized minorities akin to African Americans or if their incorporation into U.S. society will more closely resemble that of their European predecessors. They also tackle the vexing question of whether America's new racial diversity is helping to erode the tenacious black/white color line. The Diversity Paradox uses population-based analyses and in-depth interviews to examine patterns of intermarriage and multiracial identification among Asians, Latinos, and African Americans. Lee and Bean analyze where the color line—and the economic and social advantage it demarcates—is drawn today and on what side these new arrivals fall. They show that Asians and Latinos with mixed ancestry are not constrained by strict racial categories. Racial status often shifts according to situation. Individuals can choose to identify along ethnic lines or as white, and their decisions are rarely questioned by outsiders or institutions. These groups also intermarry at higher rates, which is viewed as part of the process of becoming "American" and a form of upward social mobility. African Americans, in contrast, intermarry at significantly lower rates than Asians and Latinos. Further, multiracial blacks often choose not to identify as such and are typically perceived as being black only—underscoring the stigma attached to being African American and the entrenchment of the "one-drop" rule. Asians and Latinos are successfully disengaging their national origins from the concept of race—like European immigrants before them—and these patterns are most evident in racially diverse parts of the country. For the first time in 2000, the U.S. Census enabled multiracial Americans to identify themselves as belonging to more than one race. Eight years later, multiracial Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States. For many, these events give credibility to the claim that the death knell has been sounded for institutionalized racial exclusion. The Diversity Paradox is an extensive and eloquent examination of how contemporary immigration and the country's new diversity are redefining the boundaries of race. The book also lays bare the powerful reality that as the old black/white color line fades a new one may well be emerging—with many African Americans still on the other side.

The Multiracial Experience

The Multiracial Experience PDF Author: Maria P. P. Root
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0803970595
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
In this book Maria Root uses her multiracial experience to challenge current theoretical and political conceptualizations of race, and redefine the way race and social relations are defined.

Unpacking the Relationship Between Ethnic Identity and Adjustment Among Biracials

Unpacking the Relationship Between Ethnic Identity and Adjustment Among Biracials PDF Author: Lauren Kimberlee Berger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781369796100
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Understanding the biracial experience has become increasingly important as the biracial population in the United States has grown substantially in recent years. One integral aspect of the biracial experience is how the biracial individual conceptualizes his or her ethnic identity, and its relationship to adjustment and mental health outcomes. Research suggests that biracials may have poorer mental health than monoracials, and a recent meta-analysis (Shih & Sanchez, 2005) cites a lack of research testing potential mediators of the link between the identity of biracials and their adjustment. Moreover, not all studies have found a link between the identity of biracials and adjustment. The goal in this study was to reconcile these mixed findings by including a number of social psychological variables that might clarify under what conditions the ethnic identity of biracials is related to adjustment, and why it is related. The research in clinical and social psychology on self-discrepancy theory (SDT) suggests that identity discrepancies, when comparing the current self to the self that one wants to be or the self that others think one should be, might explain the relationship between the ethnic identity of biracials and various indices of adjustment, and that individual differences in integrative tendencies and the salience of one’s ethnic identity might moderate this effect. These mediators and moderators were tested in the current study. Using a sample of 105 Asians, 92 Whites, and 94 Asian/White biracials, this study examined the effect of identity discrepancies on four different aspects of adjustment: depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and functioning. The integration of multiple ethnic identities, a dialectical self-view, and the salience of one’s ethnic identity were tested as potential moderators of the discrepancy-adjustment effect. Analyses indicated that Asians and Asian/White biracials did not differ on adjustment outcomes, but both groups were more depressed and had lower self-esteem than Whites. Asian/White biracials had more identity discrepancies than Asians and Whites. In mediational analyses, Asian/White biracials experienced more Actual-Ought identity discrepancies (comparing the current self to the self that others think one should be) than Whites, which appeared to lead to higher levels of depression and lower self-esteem. Identity discrepancies did not mediate differences in adjustment between monoracial Asians and Whites. Identity integration, dialectical self-view, and ethnic identity salience did not moderate the effect of identity discrepancies on adjustment among the Asian/White biracials. The implications of these results are discussed.

Navigating Multiple Identities

Navigating Multiple Identities PDF Author: Ruthellen Josselson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199838291
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
In our increasingly complex, globalized world, people often carry conflicting psychosocial identities. This volume considers individuals who are navigating across racial minority or majority status, various cultural expectations and values, gender identities, and roles. The authors explore how people bridge loyalties and identifications.

I'm More Than the Sum of My Parts

I'm More Than the Sum of My Parts PDF Author: Hannah Dustan Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Culture
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
This paper examines the ways that multiracial individuals understand and give meaning to their identities. Specifically, how do we--as a culture and as individuals--conceptualize and construct multiracial identities? What is the relationship between the way people identify themselves and the way they are identified by others? What do people mean when they say they are mixed race? Through a series of in-depth interviews with 11 individuals who self-identify as multiracial or mixed race, I find that racial identities are fundamentally multifaceted; they can be asserted by an individual, ascribed by an outsider, deeply rooted in culture and heritage, employed as a way of creating community, and a source of discrimination or privilege. I go on to argue that conflict between the way that someone self-identifies and the way they are identified by others can influence the way that they construct the meaning of their own identity, and the way that they present this identity to others. I draw a distinction between the concepts of multiracial identities as a blending of cultures and mixed race as a stand-alone racial category with a unique set of experiences and characteristics, and examine the purposes that these theoretical frameworks serve.