The Color of My Skin: A Measure to Assess Children's Perceptions of Their Skin Color

Abstract

The Color of My Skin is an instrument developed to assess children's internalized idea (abstraction) of the color of their skin; their satisfaction with that color; the desire, if any, to change the color of their skin; and their affect regarding their skin color. The assessment is part of a questionnaire utilized in a 3-year longitudinal study that examines psychosocial development, physical health, and behavioral adjustment of Puerto Rican children (N = 257) reared in the Greater Boston area. The results demonstrate that children's internalized representation of their skin color is a construct that can be reliably and validly measured. The children's ratings of their skin color were not associated with their sex, school grade, ethnic identity, the child's or the parent's nativity, or the racial or ethnic compositions of 3 social contexts: their neighborhood, their classmates, and their closest friends. Puerto Rican children did not show a preference for light-colored skin. Moreover, there were no significant differences in self-esteem based on the child's self-reported skin color. The lack of association between self-esteem and skin color was interpreted in light of a developmental tendency prevalent in early to middle childhood to place a positive value on different aspects of one's self. Whereas almost all children (96%) reported being happy or very happy with their color, 16% of the children would like to change their skin color if they could (51% to a lighter and 46% to a darker color).

A comparison of skin tone discrimination among African American men: 1995 and 2003.

“…Kahn & Davies, 2011) as well as light-skinned males (e.g. Oyserman et al, 2006) have been stereotyped negatively by in-group members, particularly in low SES contexts; in contrast, medium-skinned men may be protected from in-group discrimination Although previous research revealed that interviewer-rated skin tone was not associated with self-esteem for African American men (Thompson & Keith, 2001), discrepancies in self-rated versus interviewer-rated skin tone were not examined and could be related to feelings of strain (Pleck, 1995) and self-esteem (Erkut et al, 2000). …”

An Exploration of Cultural Identity Patterns and the Family Context among Arab Muslim Young Adults in America

“…This has informed theoretical and measurement models of ethnic identity (Alarcon, Szalacha, Erkut, Fields, & Garcia Coll, 2000;Clark & Clark, 1947). However, the ethnic identity of Arab Muslims in the US does not align with the theoretical assumptions underlying these models, because Arabs are technically not immigrants of color; they are categorized as ''White'' on the Census tract.…”

Multiple contexts, multiple methods: a study of academic and cultural identity among children of immigrant parents

“…First, participants were asked to provide demographic information including gender, year in school, birth country for each parent, frequency of English language use with parents and with friends, and the preferred ethnic or cultural label of the participant (e.g., Asian-American, Latino, White, etc.). This method of determining participants' preferred ethnic identity label was developed by Alarcón et al (2000) and reported in Fuligni et al (2005). Second, participants were asked about their ethnic identity, including how important their ethnic identity was to their self-concept (Core Ethnic Identity, sample item: "In general, being a member of my ethnic group is an important part of my self-image.")…”