Being Mixed: Who Claims a Biracial Identity?

6 Pages·2012·0.183 MB·English

by  Sarah S. M. Townsend et al

CulturalDiversityandEthnicMinorityPsychology ©2012AmericanPsychologicalAssociation
2012,Vol.18,No.1,91–96 1099-9809/12/$12.00 DOI:10.1037/a0026845
BRIEF REPORT
Being Mixed: Who Claims a Biracial Identity?
Sarah S. M. Townsend Stephanie A. Fryberg
NorthwesternUniversity UniversityofArizona
Clara L. Wilkins Hazel Rose Markus
WesleyanUniversity StanfordUniversity
Whatfactorsdeterminewhethermixed-raceindividualsclaimabiracialidentityoramonoracialidentity?
Twostudiesexaminehowtwostatus-relatedfactors—raceandsocialclass—influenceidentitychoice.
While a majority of mixed-race participants identified as biracial in both studies, those who were
members of groups with higher status in American society were more likely than those who were
membersofgroupswithlowerstatustoclaimabiracialidentity.Specifically,(a)Asian/Whiteindivid-
uals were more likely than Black/White or Latino/White individuals to identify as biracial and (b)
mixed-race people from middle-class backgrounds were more likely than those from working-class
backgroundstoidentifyasbiracial.Theseresultssuggestthatclaimingabiracialidentityisachoicethat
ismoreavailabletothosewithhigherstatus.
Keywords:biracialidentity,multiracialidentity,racialidentity,socialclass,mixed-race
Althoughhavingparentsofdifferentracialandethnicbackgrounds Since the decriminalization of interracial marriage in 1967, the
hasalonghistoryintheUnitedStates,the2000Censuswasthefirst number of interracial unions and the number of mixed-race indi-
“official”opportunityformixed-raceindividualstoidentifyasbiracial viduals grew substantially (Root, 1996). In 2010, over 9 million
ormultiracial.Despitethisopportunity,manymixed-raceindividuals people selected more than one racial background on the census
donotclaimbiracialormultiracialidentities.Instead,theyidentifyas (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011). Estimates show mixed-race
monoracial;theyclaimonlyoneoftheirparents’racialbackgrounds peopletobethefastestgrowingdemographicgroupinthenation
(Daniel, 1996; Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002a). In the present (Yen, 2009, May). With this population growth, people are now
article,weusespontaneousself-descriptiontasksandmultiple-choice lesslikelytoworrythatbiracialidentificationleadstoconfusion,
questions that mirror the format of many demographic forms to conflict, and maladjustment (Erikson, 1968; Park, 1931; Stoneq-
examinewhichmixed-raceindividualsaremorelikelytoidentifyas
uist,1937)ortodifficultydevelopingpositiveself-concepts(Bran-
biracialasopposedtomonoracial.Wesuggestthattwostatus-related
dell, 1988; Brown, 1990; Sebring, 1985). Instead, biracial and
factors, individuals’ racial and social class backgrounds, influence
multiracial identities are more often viewed as healthy identity
theiridentityclaims.
options and research suggests they are indeed associated with
positivepsychologicalfunctioning(BinningUnzueta,Huo,&Mo-
The Biracial Identity Option
lina,2009;Brown,1995;Field,1996;Gibbs&Hines,1992;Hall,
Twofactorscontributedtotheemergenceofthebiracialidentity 1992;Root,1992,1996;Shih&Sanchez,2005).
optionintheUnitedStates.First,thedemographicrealitychanged. Second, the biracial and multiracial identity movement also
contributedtotheemergenceofthebiracialidentityoptioninthe
UnitedStates.Supportersofthismovementarguethatclaiminga
biracialormultiracialidentityisa“right”thatmixed-raceindivid-
SarahS.M.Townsend,DepartmentofManagementandOrganizations,
uals can, and in some respects should, exercise (e.g., DaCosta,
Northwestern University; Stephanie A. Fryberg, Department of Psychol-
ogy,UniversityofArizona;ClaraL.Wilkins,DepartmentofPsychology, 2003;Rockquemore&Brunsma,2002a;Root,1996).Attestingto
Wesleyan University; Hazel Rose Markus, Department of Psychology, the importance of this right, research reveals that denying bira-
StanfordUniversity. ciallyidentifiedindividualstheabilitytochooseabiracialidentity
ThisresearchwassupportedbyaNationalScienceFoundationGraduate is associated with lower self-esteem and decreased motivational
ResearchFellowshiptoSarahS.M.TownsendandbyNSFgrant40360to outcomes(Townsend,Markus,&Bergsieker,2009;seealsoSan-
HazelRoseMarkus.WethankAntheaKelsickandValeriePurdie-Vaughns
chez,2010).Themovementalsoledtoanarrayofculturalprod-
forhelpwithStudy1andHilaryBergsiekerforcommentsonadraft.
uctsandpracticesthatencouragebiracialidentification.Children’s
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sarah
bookssuchasBlack,White,JustRight!(Davol,1993)andt-shirts
S. M. Townsend, 2001 Sheridan Road, Department of Management and
Organizations, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: createdbymixed-raceorganizations(e.g.,MavinFoundation,n.d.;
[email protected] FusionProgramforMixedHeritageYouth,n.d.)withsloganssuch
91
92 TOWNSEND,FRYBERG,WILKINS,ANDMARKUS
as“HybridVigor,”arejusttwoexamples.Together,thechanging contexts(Browne,2005).Researchshowsthathigh-statuspeople
demographic reality and the biracial identity movement created aremorelikelytoidentifyasWhite,andlesslikelytoidentifyas
moreopportunitiesformixed-raceindividualstoidentifyasbira- Black, than low-status people (e.g., those who have been unem-
cial. ployed or impoverished; Penner & Saperstein, 2008). Given this,
we hypothesized that Asian/White individuals would be more
The Biracial Identity Option and Racial and Social likely to identify as biracial than Black/White and Latino/White
individuals(Study1),andthatmiddle-classindividualswouldbe
Class Differences
more likely to identify as biracial than working-class individuals
Giventheopportunitytochooseabiracialidentity,whoislikely (Study2).Inaddition,wepredictedthatthesocialclassdifference
toclaimthisidentity?Researchrevealsthatappearanceandsocial inStudy2wouldpersistevenafterwestatisticallycontrolledfor
environment are two important factors shaping identity claims. theracialcompositionofparticipants’environments.
Specifically, among people who are half-White/half-minority,
those who look White and those who are from predominately Study 1
Whiteenvironmentsaremorelikelytoidentifyasbiracialthanas Mixed-race individuals completed a survey containing both
monoracial (Brunsma & Rockquemore, 2001; Rockquemore & closed-andopen-endedidentityquestions.Wepredictedthatpar-
Brunsma,2002a;Stephan,1992;Williams,1996).Giventheracial ticipants’ identification as biracial versus monoracial-minority
hierarchy in the United States in which White Americans are would be associated with their particular combination of racial
accorded higher status than Americans of color, these findings backgrounds.Specifically,wepredictedthatAsian/Whitepartici-
suggestthatclaimingabiracialidentity,insteadofamonoracial- pants would be more likely to identify as biracial than Latino/
minorityidentity,islikelytoaccompanyhighersocialstatus. WhiteandBlack/Whiteparticipants.
In the current studies, we evaluate this hypothesis by directly
examininghowtwostatus-relatedfactors—raceandsocialclass— Method
shapeidentityclaims.Avarietyofpreviousofstudiessuggestthis
Participants. Participantsincluded90mixed-raceundergrad-
possibility. For example, some qualitative research suggests that
uates (68 women) at a Northern California university. Racial
racial background may be related to biracial identification (e.g.,
backgrounds were determined by the races/ethnicities of partici-
Binning et al. 2009; Harris & Sim, 2002; Lee & Bean, 2010;
pants’parents(Rockquemore,Brunsma,&Delgado,2009).Forty
Rockquemore&Brunsma,2002a).However,thisisthefirststudy
participants had one parent who was Asian/Asian American and
tosystematicallyexaminewhetherthestatusofindividuals’racial
one who was White/European American (25 women), 23 had
groupsinfluencestheirlikelihoodofidentifyingasbiracial.Class
parents who were Black/African American and White/European
background is also associated with identity claims; however, this
American (16 women), and 27 had parents who were Latino and
association is often reduced to differences in the racial composi-
White/EuropeanAmerican(17women).Genderdidnotdifferby
tionofindividuals’environments(e.g.,Doyle&Kao,2007;Rock-
ethnicgroup,(cid:1)2(2,N(cid:2)90)(cid:2)0.36,p(cid:2).84.
quemore & Brunsma, 2002a). Additional research is needed to
Procedure. Participantswererecruitedviacampusemaillists
examinewhethermixed-raceindividuals’socialclassbackgrounds
byaskingstudentswhohadparentsthatweremembersofdifferent
arerelatedtotheiridentificationasbiracialversusmonoracialeven
racial groups to complete a questionnaire about their college
when statistically controlling for differences in the racial compo-
experiencesandrelationshipswithothers.Weadvertisedbasedon
sition of their social environments. By comparing mixed-race
parents’race,insteadofracialidentification,asawaytominimize
individualsfromthreedistinctbiracialbackgroundsandtwosocial
potential self-selection of only biracially identified mixed-race
classbackgrounds,thepresentresearchexamineshowstatusmay
people.
berelatedtoclaimsofbiracialidentity.
Materials. Participants completed the measures in the fol-
lowingorder.
Current Studies
Twenty statements test (TST). A 10-statement version of
theTST(Hartley,1970;Rhee,Uleman,Lee,&Roman,1995)was
Intwostudies,weexaminedwhichmixed-raceindividuals’are
used to assess the strength and salience of racial identification.
more likely to claim biracial identities. In both studies, we re-
Specifically, participants provided 10 answers to the question,
cruitedmixed-raceindividualswhohadoneWhiteparentandone
“Whoareyou?”
racial minority parent (i.e., Black, Asian, or Latino). Study 1
Racial identity question. Using a multiple-choice format,
examined which racial backgrounds (i.e., Black/White, Asian/
participants were asked to indicate how they racially identify by
White,orLatino/White)andStudy2examinedwhichsocialclass
selectingoneidentityfromthefollowinglist:Asian/AsianAmer-
backgrounds,wereassociatedwithagreaterlikelihoodofclaiming
ican, biracial/multiracial, Black/African American, Latino/
a biracial versus a monoracial-minority identity. We focus on
Chicano, Native American/American Indian, White/European
biracial versus monoracial-minority identification because prior
American,andOther.
research reveals that White/Nonwhite mixed-race people rarely
Demographic information. Participants reported their own
identifymonoraciallyasWhite(Rockquemore,1999).
genderandbothoftheirparents’races.
We anticipated that the status of racial and social class back-
grounds in American society would determine which identity
Results and Discussion
option individuals claimed. Asians are higher status than Blacks
and Latinos (Sidanius & Pratto, 1993), and people from middle- Notably,noparticipantsmentionedamonoracialWhiteidentity
class contexts are higher status than people from working-class in their 10 statements, and only six (7%) selected White on the
BIRACIALIDENTITY 93
multiple-choice question (four were Asian/White and two were
Black/White).Duetotheirlimitednumber,theseparticipantswere
notincludedinouranalyses.Thefinaldataset(N(cid:2)84)consisted
of36Asian/White,21Black/White,and27Latino/White.
Tenstatementstest. Toexamineparticipants’likelihoodof
claiming biracial versus monoracial identities, we coded race-
related responses as either biracial or monoracial-minority. Re-
sponsessuchas“mixed,”“biracial,”“multiracial,”andmentioning
both racial backgrounds on the same line or different lines were
codedas“biracial.”Responsessuchas“Black/AfricanAmerican,”
“Japanese,” “Latino” and “Chicano,” in the absence of a second
identity, were coded as “monoracial-minority.” Nearly three
fourths of all participants listed race or ethnicity in their self-
descriptions (N (cid:2) 59, 70.2%) and this was not related to their
racialbackground,(cid:1)2(2,N(cid:2)84)(cid:2)3.97,p(cid:2).14.
Next,toexaminewhetherracialbackgroundwasrelatedtothe Figure2. Proportionofparticipantswithineachracialgroupthatiden-
identityoptionthatparticipantsclaimed,weconductedanomnibus tifiedasbiracialversusmonoracial-minorityonthemultiple-choiceques-
chi-square, (cid:1)2(2, N (cid:2) 59) (cid:2) 10.18, p (cid:2) .003. See Figure 1 for tion(Study1).
proportions.Racialgroupsdifferedsignificantlyintheracialiden-
titymentioned.Wethenconductedpartial(cid:1)2analysestoexamine
the specific differences. Consistent with our hypothesis, Asian/ were more likely to identify as biracial than Black/White partici-
White participants were more likely to mention biracial than pants, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 57) (cid:2) 4.41, p (cid:2) .04, and Latino/White partici-
Latino/White participants, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 41) (cid:2) 10.49, p (cid:2) .001. pants, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 63) (cid:2) 7.31, p (cid:2) .007. Overall, these results
However, contrary to our predictions, Asian/White participants confirmourhypothesisthatmixed-raceindividualswhoaremem-
werenotsignificantlymorelikelytomentionbiracialthanBlack/ bers of groups with higher status in society are more likely than
White participants, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 43) (cid:2) 1.72, p (cid:2) .18. In addition, thosewhoaremembersofgroupswithlowerstatustoidentifyas
Black/Whiteparticipantsweremorelikelytomentionbiracialthan biracial.
Latino/Whiteparticipants,(cid:1)2(1,N(cid:2)34)(cid:2)4.14,p(cid:2).04.
Racial identification. Overall, on the multiple-choice racial
Study 2
identification question, the majority of mixed-race individuals
identified as biracial/multiracial (70%) with a substantial number In Study 2, we aimed to test our hypothesis with mixed-race
identifying with their minority heritage (30%). To examine participantswhovariedbyinstatusasafunctionofsocialclass.1
whether these identity claims differed by racial background, we Wepredictedthatmixed-raceindividualsfrommiddle-classback-
conducted a nonparametric chi-square analysis, (cid:1)2(2, N (cid:2) 84) (cid:2) grounds(thehigherstatusgroup)wouldbemorelikelytoidentify
7.82,p(cid:2).02.SeeFigure2forproportions.First,contrarytoour as biracial than those from working-class backgrounds. It is im-
TST results, Black/White and Latino/White participants did not portanttonotethatwepredictedthatthiswouldpersistevenwhen
differ in their identity choices, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 48) (cid:2) 0.20, p (cid:2) .66, statistically controlling for the racial composition of participants’
whichhintsatpotentialchangesinthestatusofBlackandLatino neighborhoods.
Americans.Importantly,aswepredicted,Asian/Whiteparticipants
Method
Participants. Participantsincludedmixed-race,Black/White
1 Biracial (N(cid:2)62;40females)studentsfromseveraluniversitiesacrossthe
0.9 Minority country.AsinStudy1,racialbackgroundsweredeterminedbythe
s 0.8 races/ethnicities of parents. Consistent with prior research (Bow-
apnt 0.7 man, Kitayama, & Nisbett, 2009; Grossmann & Varnum, 2011;
ci Stephens, Markus, & Townsend, 2007), social class background
arti 0.6 was determined by parents’ educational attainment. Specifically,
P
of 0.5 participantswereconsideredmiddle-class(n(cid:2)36)ifatleastone
n 0.4 parenthada4-yearcollegedegreeandworking-class(n(cid:2)26)if
o
orti 0.3 neither parent had a 4-year college degree. Research reveals that
op parentaleducationisbetterthanparentalincomeoroccupationfor
Pr 0.2 predicting engagement with the values, ideas, and practices most
0.1
0
Asian/White Black/White Latino/White 1Although the ideal design would include working-class and middle-
classparticipantsfromthethreemixed-racegroupsincludedinStudy1,we
Figure1. Proportionofparticipantswithineachracialgroupthatmen- wereonlyabletorecruitsufficientnumbersofworking-classparticipants
tioned being biracial versus monoracial-minority in their spontaneous who were Black/White. Thus, this study compares working-class and
self-descriptions(Study1). middle-classBlack/Whiteparticipants.
94 TOWNSEND,FRYBERG,WILKINS,ANDMARKUS
pervasive in each social class context (Davis, 1994; Kohn & tity,insteadclaiming,forexample,“human”or“myself.”Thefinal
Schooler,1983;Meyer,1990). sample included 57 participants (23 working-class, 34 middle-
Althoughgenderdidnotdifferbysocialclass,(cid:1)2(1,N(cid:2)62)(cid:2) class).
2.23,p(cid:2).14,theracialcompositionofparticipants’environments To test whether participants’ racial identifications differed by
did. Middle-class participants reported living in neighborhoods social class, we conducted a stepwise logistic regression with
withslightlymoreWhiteresidentsthanworking-classparticipants socialclassasthesolepredictoronthefirststep,racialcomposi-
(M (cid:2) 2.81, SD (cid:2) 1.69 vs. M (cid:2) 3.65, SD (cid:2) tionofparticipants’neighborhoodsandhighschoolsaspredictors
middle-class working-class
1.96), t(60) (cid:2) 1.83, p (cid:2) .07, and attending high schools with on the second step, and racial identification as the dependent
significantlymoreWhitestudentsthanworking-classparticipants measure.AtStep1,participantsfrommiddle-classcontextswere
(M (cid:2) 2.83, SD (cid:2) 1.38 vs. M (cid:2) 3.65, SD (cid:2) more likely to claim a biracial identity than those from working-
middle-class working-class
1.60),t(60)(cid:2)2.16,p(cid:2).04.Giventhis,andtotestwhethersocial classcontexts((cid:5)(cid:2)(cid:6)1.50),Wald,(cid:1)2(1,N(cid:2)57)(cid:2)5.44,p(cid:2).02.
classdifferencesinidentificationarereducibletoracialdifferences Next, consistent with previous research (Rockquemore, 1999),
inindividuals’environments,wecontrolledfortheracialcompo- participants whose neighborhoods and high schools had larger
sitionofparticipants’environmentsinouranalyses. numbersofWhites,relativetoBlacks,weremorelikelytoclaim
Procedure. Black/White mixed-race participants were iden- a biracial identity ((cid:5) (cid:2) .859, Wald, (cid:1)2(1, N (cid:2) 57) (cid:2)
neighborhood
tifiedfromlargerparticipantpoolsforwhichtheyhadcompleted 5.81,p(cid:2).02,and(cid:5) (cid:2)(cid:6).783,Wald,(cid:1)2(1,N(cid:2)57)(cid:2)
highschool
eligibility surveys. They were then recruited to participate in a 4.31, p (cid:2) .04). Importantly, the effect of social class on partici-
briefquestionnairestudyexploringhowpeoplethinkaboutthem- pants’ racial identification remained significant after controlling
selvesandothersaroundthem.Participantswereunawarethatthey for the racial composition of their environments ((cid:5) (cid:2) (cid:6)1.82),
wererecruitedbecauseoftheirmixed-racebackground. Wald,(cid:1)2(1,N(cid:2)57)(cid:2)5.70,p(cid:2).02(Figure3).
Materials. Participantscompletedthequestionnairepacketin Degree of racial identification. Next, we examined social
thefollowingorder. class differences in degree of racial identification. Participants
Open-ended racial identification. Participants indicated indicated their level of identification with each group separately.
their racial identification by completing the statement: “I racially Wehypothesizedsocialclassdifferencesinidentificationasbira-
identifyas...”Thispromptwasfollowedbyablankline. cialrelativetoBlack,sowecreatedadifferencescorebysubtract-
Degreeofidentification. Participantsreportedthedegreeto ingdegreeofidentificationasBlackfromdegreeofidentification
whichtheyidentifiedasWhite,Black,andbiracial.Usingascale asbiracial.Higherdifferencescoresindicategreateridentification
from 1 (not at all) to 7 (strongly), they answered the question: asbiracialrelativetoBlack.
“How much do you identify as a member of the following Next, we conducted a stepwise hierarchical regression with
groups?” with respect to European Americans (M (cid:2) 3.75, SD (cid:2) socialclassasthepredictoronthefirststep,theracialcomposition
1.75), African Americans (M (cid:2) 5.63, SD (cid:2) 1.36), and biracial/ of participants’ neighborhoods and high schools as predictors on
multiracialindividuals(M(cid:2)6.44,SD(cid:2)1.34). the second step, and identification difference score as the depen-
Consistentwithpriorresearch(Rockquemore,1999)andStudy dent measure. At Step 1, we found that middle-class participants
1,mixed-raceparticipantsdidnotidentifymonoraciallyasWhite. had a greater preference for identifying as biracial than working-
Specifically, no participants responded to the open-ended identi- classparticipants,(cid:5)(cid:2).321,p(cid:2).02.AtStep2,participantswhose
ficationquestionbyclaimingamonoracialWhiteidentity,andthe highschoolshadlargernumbersofWhitepeople,relativetoBlack
degreetowhichparticipantsidentifiedasWhitewassignificantly people,reportedahigherdegreeofidentificationasbiracialrela-
lower than both Black and biracial, Fs (cid:3) 9.00, ps (cid:4) .01. There- tive to Black, (cid:5) (cid:2) (cid:6).311, p (cid:2) .05. Neighborhood
high school
fore, we focused on participants’ identification as Black or bira- compositiondidnothaveasignificanteffect,(cid:5) (cid:2).069,
neighborhood
cial.
Demographics. Participantsreportedtheirowngender,their
parents’races,andtheirparents’levelsofeducationalattainment.
1 Biracial
Participantsalsoreportedtheracialcompositionoftheirenviron-
ments, separately rating their childhood neighborhoods and their 0.9 Minority (Black)
highschoolsonascalefrom1(almostallareWhite)to7(almost
0.8
all are Black). We used this range given that previous work has nts
focusedontheroleofexposuretoBlacks,relativetoWhites(e.g., cipa 0.7
Rockquemore&Brunsma,2002b). arti 0.6
P
of 0.5
n
Results and Discussion ortio 0.4
p
Open-endedracialidentification. Participants’responseson Pro 0.3
theopen-endedracialidentificationquestionwerecodedintotwo 0.2
categories: Black and biracial. The Black category included,
0.1
“Black,”“AfricanAmerican,”and“Afro-American.”Thebiracial
categoryincludedallresponsesindicatingadualidentityasBlack 0
Middle-Class Working-Class
and White or as biracial (e.g., “Black/White” “African American
and Caucasian,” “biracial,” “multiracial,” and “mixed”). Five re- Figure3. Proportionofmiddle-andworking-classparticipantsthatidenti-
spondentsweredroppedbecausetheydidnotclaimaracialiden- fiedasbiracialversusBlackontheopen-endedquestion(Study2).
BIRACIALIDENTITY 95
p (cid:2) .70. Finally, confirming our prediction, the effect of social mediatedbyadesireforuniqueness.Middle-classindividualsuse
classondegreeofracialidentificationremainedsignificantatStep choices to demonstrate individuality and uniqueness more than
2, that is, even after controlling for the racial composition of working-class individuals (Snibbe & Markus, 2005; Stephens et
individuals’environments,(cid:5)(cid:2).266,p(cid:2).05. al.,2007).Consequently,mixed-racemiddle-classindividualsmay
prefertoidentifyasbiracialbecausetheoptionenhancesfeelings
General Discussion ofdistinctivenessanduniqueness.
In contemporary American society, mixed-race individuals en-
Amongmixed-raceindividuals,whoclaimsabiracialidentity? counter a variety of racial identity options. While, the identity
Ourresearchrevealsthattwostatus-relatedfactorsmatter—racial claimstheymakemayfeelveryprivateandpersonal,theseclaims
andsocialclassbackground.Inbothcases,individualsassociated are,infact,collectiveproductsthatindividualsmustnegotiatewith
with higher status groups are more likely than those associated their environments. With the 2000 Census, the opportunity to
withlowerstatusgroupstoclaimabiracialidentity. claim a biracial identity was made “officially” available to all
Study1revealedthatAsian/Whiteindividualsweremorelikely mixed-racepeople.However,asourfindingssuggest,thisoption
toidentifyasbiracialthanLatino/Whiteindividualsinbothspon- may represent yet another of the many choices to express one’s
taneous self-descriptions and multiple-choice questions and more selfandtoexertcontroloverone’sidentitythataremoreavailable
likely to identify as biracial than Black/White individuals on tothosewithhigherstatus.
multiple-choice questions. Additionally, Black/White participants
were more likely than Latino/White participants to mention bira-
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