Not Excluded From Analyses: Ethnic and Racial Meanings and Identification Among Multiethnic/Racial Early Adolescents

Because research on ethnic-racial identity development largely excludes multiethno-racial youth, we used a mixed-methods approach to examine ethno-racial meanings and identification among 102 early adolescents (M = 11.45, SD = 0.70 years) with multiethno-racial (n = 45), mono-majority (i.e., European American; n = 29), or mono-minority (e.g., Latino, African American; n = 28) heritage. Results indicated more similarity than difference between multiethno-racial and mono-minority youth—most understood their heritage through tangible connections (e.g., language). Social (e.g., stereotypes) and individual (e.g., pride) meanings of ethno-racial heritage were also discussed. Last, we observed that most multiethno-racial youth identified with either one (53.3%) or all components of their heritage (35.6%), and these identification choices were linked to tangible experiences (e.g., travel or language proficiency). Developmental and contextual reasons for these findings are discussed.
Source: Journal of Adolescent Research - Category: Child Development Authors: Tags: Articles Source Type: research