Familial Ethnic Socialization Among Adolescents of Latino and European Descent: Do Latina Mothers Exert the Most Influence?

Posted in Articles, Family/Parenting, Latino Studies, Media Archive, Social Science, Women on 2010-08-06 20:48Z by Steven

Familial Ethnic Socialization Among Adolescents of Latino and European Descent: Do Latina Mothers Exert the Most Influence?

Journal of Family Issues
Volume 27, Number 2 (February 2006)
Pages 184-207
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X05279987

Andrea G. González
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Associate Professor, School of Social and Family Dynamics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Arizona State University

Mayra Y. Bámaca-Colbert, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Pennsylvania State University

This article examines gender and family composition differences in 98 biethnic adolescents’ reports of familial ethnic socialization and ethnic identity. Using analysis of variance, four groups (i.e., adolescent males with Latina mothers and European American fathers, adolescent females with Latina mothers and European American fathers, adolescent males with European American mothers and Latino fathers, and adolescent females with European American mothers and Latino fathers) are compared on the above measures. Results indicate that sons of Latina mothers reported the highest levels of familial ethnic socialization. No significant differences emerge between groups on a measure of ethnic identity.

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Examining Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Biracial and Monoracial Adolescents

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, United States on 2010-03-21 01:02Z by Steven

Examining Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Biracial and Monoracial Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume 33, Number 2 (April, 2004)
pages 123-132
Print ISSN: 0047-2891; Online ISSN: 1573-6601
DOI: 10.1023/B:JOYO.0000013424.93635.68

Jeana R. Bracey
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mayra Y. Bámaca
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

The psychological well-being and ethnic identity of biracial adolescents are largely underrepresented topics in current scholarly literature, despite the growing population of biracial and multiracial individuals in the United States. This study examined self-esteem, ethnic identity, and the relationship between these constructs among biracial and monoracial adolescents (n = 3282). Using analysis of covariance, significant differences emerged between biracial and monoracial adolescents on both a measure of self-esteem and a measure of ethnic identity. Specifically, biracial adolescents showed significantly higher levels of self-esteem than their Asian counterparts, but significantly lower self-esteem than Black adolescents. Furthermore, biracial adolescents scored significantly higher than Whites on a measure of ethnic identity, but scored lower than their Black, Asian, and Latino peers on the same measure. Finally, correlational analyses revealed a significant and positive relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem for all groups.

The number of interracial marriages in the United States, as well as the number of interracial individuals, has steadily increased since the 1967 Supreme Court repeal of laws barring interracial marriages (Root, 1992; Wardle, 1987). In response to a long-term debate over the addition of a multiracial category for the 2000 census (Rockquemore and Brunsma, 2002), a compromise was made that allowed respondents to select multiple racial categories, resulting in approximately 2% of the population self-identifying as multiracial (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Despite these figures, this segment of the population remains largely invisible in the area of scholarly research. Much of the literature on biracial or multiracial populations tends to be theoretical (Phinney, 1990), and the limited empirical work has been based largely on small clinical samples or samples recruited via snowball sampling techniques (Phinney and Alipuria, 1996).

Given the growing visibility of biracial families in society, it is critical to learn more about the developmental outcomes of adolescents within these families, specifically with regard to their psychological adjustment. Understanding the complexity and impact of diversity on adolescent development should be at the forefront of our priorities. Two interrelated psychological factors in need of more in-depth examination among biracial adolescents are ethnic identity and self-esteem. Despite the fact that self-esteem, as an evaluative measure of psychosocial adjustment, is linked to major mental health outcomes, researchers have not focused on examining the self-esteem of biracial adolescents…

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