Racial Self‐Categorization in Adolescence: Multiracial Development and Social Pathways

Abstract

Research on multiracial individuals is often cross-sectional, obscuring the fluid nature of multiracial self-categorization across time. Pathways of racial self-identification are developed from a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 14-18, measured again 5 years later. A significant proportion of multiracial adolescents change racial self-identification across time. Youth who ever report being multiracial are 4 times as likely to switch self-identification as to report consistent multiracial identities. Across this time, more multiracial adolescents either add a racial category (diversify) or subtract one (consolidate) than maintain consistent multiracial self-categorization. Exploratory multinomial analyses show few differences between these pathways on select psychological and social characteristics. Results lend quantitative support to qualitative studies indicating the fluidity of racial self-categorization.

Mothers and Their Biracial Children: Growing Up Biracial in a One Race Fits All Society

“…The connection between subjective identity and racial identification is very profound as well as meaningful as it can conjure an identity that society demands from such an individual (Hitlin, Brown, & Elder, 2006). Race and ethnicity have become not just about how an individual identifies himself/herself but also how they are indentified by society.…”

“…However, just because individuals began to be able to designate race on the census, the race which was chosen was still largely driven by society and societal pressures (Snipp, 2003). Before this change in the 1960 Census, census officials decided an individual"s race based on hypo descent rules (Hitlin, Brown & Elder, 2006). This practice based race of mixed race individuals on their subordinate parent.…”

“…Individuals base their race often on how their social surroundings base race and not on how they perceive it themselves. Thus biracial individuals enter into a forced racial self-categorization scheme (Hitlin, Brown & Elder, 2006). Race is not a fixed concept but it is often forced into a box in which it does not fit.…”

Genetic composition of a Brazilian population: the footprint of the Gold Cycle

“…However, the validity of this color classification system is questionable for admixed populations because it is based on a subjective trait and apparently does not distinguish individuals by ancestral groups (Parra et al, 2003;Pimenta et al, 2006;Suarez-Kurtz et al, 2007;Santos et al, 2009;Lins et al, 2011;Pena et al, 2011;Leite et al, 2011). Moreover, self-identification has been shown to change over time (Hitlin et al, 2006;Santos et al, 2009), and even between sibling pairs, there was no satisfactory agreement between self-reported skin color groups or between self-reported skin color and melanin levels (Leite et al, 2011). According to Pena (2007), morphological traits are poor indicators of ancestral origin; therefore, this type of classification is merely social and may lead to misinterpretations in epidemiological studies.…”

Social Influence on Observed Race

“…R ECENTLY, a growing number of studies has been concerned with racial fluidity, providing evidence that individual race is changeable, contextual, and multidimensional (Telles and Lim 1998;Harris and Sim 2002;Hitlin, Brown, and Elder 2006;Ladányi and Szelényi 2006;Campbell and Troyer 2007;Saperstein and Penner 2012). Focusing on multidimensionality, observed race (one's race as classified by others) and its differences from racial self-classification have received significant attention (see Roth 2016).…”