When There Is Not Enough to Go Around: How Black People’s Perceptions of Competition for Black Mates Affects Forced Black Identity Ascriptions of Black/White Multiracial People

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2019-06-03 20:10Z by Steven

When There Is Not Enough to Go Around: How Black People’s Perceptions of Competition for Black Mates Affects Forced Black Identity Ascriptions of Black/White Multiracial People

Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research
Published online: 2019-05-28
DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2019.1621757

Marisa G. Franco, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Georgia State University

Olivia L. Holmes, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Tennessee State University

Darren Agboh, Social Psychology Ph.D. Candidate
City University of New York

Publication Cover

Using a resource scarcity framework, the current study investigated whether Black people’s perceptions of competition for Black mates related to ascribing a Black identity onto Black/White Multiracial people. Participants took online questionnaires that assessed competition for Black mates, likelihood of forcing a Black identity onto a self-identified Black/White Multiracial person, essentialism, and contact with Multiracial people. Results indicated that increased perceptions of competition for Black mates was related to increased forced Black identity onto self-identified Black/White Multiracial people, above and beyond levels of essentialism and contact. This relationship was stronger for sexual minorities. The current research supports the proposition that scarcity of resources (i.e., mates) affects ideologies regarding Black/White Multiracial people’s identities.

Read or purchase the article here.

Tags: , , , , ,

The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science on 2009-12-31 03:31Z by Steven

The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity

Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research
2001
Volume 3, Number 1
Pags 29-52

David L. Brunsma, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Missouri, Columbia

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Illinois at Chicago

Ethnic identity research has largely focused on the identity choices of White ethnics (Alba, 1990; Ignatiev, 1995; Waters, 1990). One key factor in these choices is bodily appearance. We extend this research to Black and White Biracial individuals and examine the role that physical appearance plays in their “choices” of racial identity.  We test Rockquemore’s (1999) taxonomy of Biracial identity using survey data from a sample of 177 Biracial respondents. The results indicate that Biracial individuals do make choices within circumscribed cultural contexts and these understandings are influenced not by skin color, but by an actor’s assumption of how others perceive his or her appearance.

Read the entire article here.

Tags: , ,