How we talk about race: Interracial family communications on race, identity and the role of social context
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Date
2018-01-01
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Department
Psychology
Program
Psychology
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Access limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan thorugh a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Abstract
The population of mixed-race children and interracial families in the United States continues to grow at a rapid rate and multiracial children represent one of the fastest growing youth groups in the country. The past several decades have shown an increase in social and psychological research aimed at understanding the experiences of multiracial Americans. Thus far, research tends to focus on either the experience and perspectives of multiracial individuals or the perspectives of the interracial couple (e.g. parents), each independent of one another. In the racial socialization literature, there remains a gap in understanding how interracial families discuss topics of race and identity together with their children. In addition, understanding how the broader social context in which these families live shapes those conversations has not been directly explored. The current study utilized qualitative methods to explore and describe how interracial families, who identify as having one Black and one White parent, communicate with their multiracial 13-17-year-old children on topics of race and identity. Interviews explored how multiracial children and their parents perceive racial socialization and parenting practices relevant to racial identity and how social contextual factors (e.g., community racial climate, racial composition, attitudes toward interracial relationships) shape the way families discuss racial topics and navigate their social environments when it comes to issues of race and identity. Findings demonstrated that parental views on their own racial identity, specifically the salience, centrality, and meaningfulness of this identity, in addition to how they have come to interpret and navigate race-related issues in their own lives, shapes the way in which they approach race-related conversations with their children. Parental level of racial consciousness, particularly among the White mothers, also emerged as a relevant factor in shaping race communication between parents and their children. Biracial children’s understanding on the significance and meaning of their own racial identity related to the ways parents were engaging their child in topics related to race and identity, in addition to children’s previous racialized experiences in their community and school environments. Data from the current study was used to create an emergent model, entitled "interracial family communication on race,” on the connections between parental and child meaning-making on racial identity, family communication on race, and the role of the larger social context. Individual-level interpretation of one’s identity and racialized experiences shaped the way in which parents approached race talk with their child, which also related to the overall racial ideology espoused in the family. Triangulation in perspectives on racial socialization practices among parents and children showed that family members tended to hold greater convergence on the content of race-related messages but diverged more in deciding how and when such conversations should occur. Macro-level sociopolitical factors, such as community racial composition and climate, social movements, attitudes toward interracial families, and the political climate directly shaped the initiation, frequency, and value parents held in having conversations related to race and identity with their Biracial children. Overall, this research illuminates the experience of a sample of eight interracial Black/White families in America today, fifty years after the Loving v. Virginia Supreme court decision, a moment that shifted our country’s understandings on what defines a marriage and a family.