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Mixed Race Families Focus of Research Examining How Children Identify Race HOUSTON, May 22, 2006 – Racial identification occurs during a child’s formative years. But when young people’s parents are from different racial backgrounds, how does this influence how they see themselves? Does parental involvement play a role in an adolescent’s social development? Or, are mixed race children able to come to their own racial identity realizations? According to recent research by University of Houston sociology professor Jennifer Bratter and Rice University sociology professor Holly Heard, evidence suggests that in mixed race families, the number of father-child activities strongly influences how a child identifies his/her race. Bratter and Heard also found that mixed race children with African American fathers are more likely to identify themselves as African Americans. These findings were recently documented in the paper “In the Name and Race of the Father? The Role of Father-Child Interactions in the Identity of Multiracial Adolescents.” “High levels of involvement by fathers in mixed race families are associated with many positive outcomes. This association strongly suggests how important fathers can be for an adolescent who is contending with general questions of ‘Who am I?’,” Bratter said. “This research can alert social workers, educators and psychologists to the special contribution that fathers can make to the identity formation of children in multiracial families.” Bratter and Heard compiled responses from adolescents regarding race and parental relationships using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a survey measuring health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 - 12. The Add Health survey collected responses from 20,745 adolescents from around the United States in 1995 of whom 886 were from mixed race families. Bratter and Heard’s analysis shows that every father-child activity within a period of a month corresponds to a 34 percent increase in the likelihood that a child will match his/her race with that of his/her father. There also is a 36 percent increase in the likelihood that a child will include his/her father’s race when identifying the races to which he/she belongs. “The activities that fathers engage in with their children can represent an excellent opportunity for racial socialization and for teaching what it is to be a member of a particular racial group,” Bratter said. “When fathers of mixed race families spend more time with their children, they have an opportunity to teach what it’s like to be member of his racial group. This may be done through engaging in culturally specific events, having conversations that convey culturally specific messages or another interaction that highlights his background.” Through the Add Health dataset, Bratter and Heard also found that in mixed race households with African American fathers, children are three times as likely to claim their fathers’ exact race and eight times as likely to include it when describing their racial identity. “This falls in line with the ‘one drop rule,’ a cultural convention dictating that anyone with African ancestry would be labeled black or African American. ‘One drop’ began as a mandate by the federal government’s collection of racial data in the census,” Bratter said. “Our findings suggest that even in mixed race households, this ‘rule’ still impacts how children see themselves. In other groups such as Asian Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics, this pattern is not reflected. While persons of mixed origin may be required to indicate ‘black’ as either their only racial identity or one of several racial identities, their background as persons of partially black ancestry influences their social experience and social identity.” Bratter and Heard recently presented their findings during the conference “Multiethnic Families: Identity Development and Well-being” in Hawaii. It will be published in a volume of the conference’s proceedings. Both researchers are preparing a follow-up study that will examine the impact of mothers on children’s racial identities and will compare the influence of both parents. About the University of Houston For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom. |
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