The relationship between racial/ethnic identification and body ideal internalization, hair satisfaction, and skin tone satisfaction in black and black/white biracial women

Eurocentric physical characteristics, including a thin, tall physique, long straight hair, and fair skin, typify Western beauty standards. Past research indicates that for Black women, greater identification with one's racial/ethnic culture may buffer against internalizing Eurocentric beauty standards, specifically the thin ideal. Black/White Biracial women often experience different appearance pressures from each of their racial identity's sociocultural appearance ideals. Unfortunately, body image research is limited among Bi/Multiracial individuals. Participants were recruited online via Prime Panels, a high-quality data recruitment service provided by CloudResearch. Participants, M(SD)Age= 34.64 (12.85), self-reported their racial/ethnic identification, thin and thick/curvy ideal internalization, and hair and skin tone satisfaction. Using linear regression analyses, we assessed whether racial/ethnic identification buffered against monoracial Black (n = 317) and Black/White Biracial (n = 254) women's thin ideal internalization. Additionally, we assessed whether stronger racial/ethnic identity was associated with stronger thick/curvy ideal internalization and hair and skin tone satisfaction. Supporting hypotheses, greater racial/ethnic identification was associated with higher thick/curvy ideal internalization and hair and skin tone satisfaction among both Black and Biracial women. Contrary to hypotheses, greater racial/ethnic identification was not associated with lower thin ideal internalization in either group. Our results stress the need to use racially and culturally sensitive measurements of body image.

Health Disparities in Time to Diagnosis and Survival Post-Diagnosis of Cirrhosis in Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder: A Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the impact of race, gender, and ethnicity on the progression from diagnosis to cirrhosis and subsequent survival in patients with alcohol use disorder, with a specific focus on identifying potential disparities in health outcomes.

METHOD

Employing a STROBE-compliant, retrospective cohort design, we analyzed data from patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder from January 2000 to December 2022, using the University of California Health Data Warehouse. We estimated survival functions using the Kaplan-Meier method and assessed demographic associations using both bivariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS

The analysis highlighted a significant association between Hispanic ethnicity and an accelerated timeline for both the diagnosis of alcohol-related cirrhosis following diagnosis of alcohol use disorder and mortality post-cirrhosis diagnosis. The former was evident only in bivariate analysis, but the latter association persisted in multivariate analysis. Gender did not demonstrate a significant correlation with the time to these outcomes, though multiracial identification emerged as a protective factor.

CONCLUSIONS

The study reveals critical health disparities in the progression and outcomes of cirrhosis, particularly between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted healthcare interventions and policies that address these disparities. Future research should delve deeper into the multifaceted factors influencing these outcomes, facilitating the development of more nuanced and effective prevention and treatment strategies for alcohol use disorder and its severe complications.

Voices of Identity: Exploring Identity Development and Transformation among Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Emerging Adults

Emerging adulthood shapes personal, professional, and overall well-being through identity exploration. This study addresses a gap in the minority identity literature by investigating how urban AI/AN emerging adults think about their identity and discussing challenges and protective factors associated with exploring their identity holistically. This mixed-methods study created a sampling framework based on discrimination experiences, cultural identity, social network support, mental health, and problematic substance use. We recruited 20 urban AI/AN emerging adults for interviews. We sought to gain deeper insights into their experiences and discussions surrounding identity formation and exploration. We provide descriptives for demographic characteristics and conducted a thematic analysis of the qualitative data from the interviews. Four themes emerged: a) being an urban AI/AN emerging adult means recognizing that one's identity is multifaceted; b) a multifaceted identity comes with tension of living in multiple worlds; c) the trajectory of one's identity grows over time to a deeper desire to connect with Native American culture; and d) understanding one's Native American background affects one's professional trajectory. Findings underscore the importance of developing programs to support well-being and identity development through cultural connection for urban AI/AN emerging adults.

Brief report: Revealing the nuance: Examining approaches for research with adolescents who identify with multiple racial/ethnic groups

INTRODUCTION

Increasing racial/ethnic diversity in the United States calls for methodological approaches that capture participants who identify with multiple racial/ethnic groups. Existing approaches are oriented toward large samples (N > 500); yet, we do not know how effective these approaches are with more common smaller convenience samples. We explored how several approaches were associated with the sample distribution of racial/ethnic groups and ethnic identity using a small convenience sample.

METHODS

In 2017, 320 U.S. adolescents (Mage  = 16.04 years, SDage  = 1.33; 59% female) responded to an open-ended question regarding their racial/ethnic group(s) in a cross-sectional survey. Seventy-five (23%) adolescents identified with multiple racial/ethnic groups. Remaining adolescents identified solely with the Asian/Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander (19%), Black/African American (3%), European American (21%), Latinx (34%), or Native American/Alaska Native (<1%) group.

RESULTS

Three approaches for adolescents with multiple racial/ethnic groups were employed. Findings indicated that the sample distributions differed across the approaches. The greatest differences were shown for Black/African American, Native American/Alaska Native, and Other Race/Ethnicity groups. Descriptively, ethnic identity also differed across the approaches. For example, multiracial/ethnic adolescents reported greater ethnic identity-exploration than their European American counterparts in one approach than in others.

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers should carefully consider approaches to research with adolescents who identify with multiple racial/ethnic groups given implications for the literature. This study demonstrates the critical need to further develop approaches for capturing the complexity of race/ethnicity.

A Critical Scoping Review of Mental Health and Wellbeing Research with Multiracial Subsamples 2012-2022

This critical scoping review examined a decade of mental health and wellbeing outcome research inclusive of subsamples of multiracial participants (or persons identifying with two or more different racial groups) in order to draw initial conclusions about the contemporary state of multiracial mental health. Mental health disparities research inclusive of multiracial subsamples appears to be trending upward. Studies that used subsample analyses offer initial evidence that multiracial persons are at greater risk to experience worsened mental health in comparison to white monoracial peers, and that this disparity is compounded for multiracial persons from gender and/or sexual minoritized groups. This review uncovered numerous theoretical and methodological inconsistencies that constrained existing research from advancing more meaningful understandings of how white supremacy and systemic mono/racism differently impact the mental health and wellbeing of multiracial persons in the USA. Implications for future mental health disparities research inclusive of multiracial subsamples are presented.

Adolescents' developing awareness of inequality: Racial and ethnic differences in trajectories

To advance knowledge of critical consciousness development, this study examined age-related change in awareness of inequality by race and ethnicity, gender, parent education, generation status, and their interactions. With longitudinal data (2013-2017) from 5019 adolescents in grades 6-12 (55.0% female) from California, Minnesota, and West Virginia, multigroup second-order latent growth curves were estimated for Black (13.7%), Latinx (37.0%), Asian (8.1%), and white (41.3%) youth. Black, Latinx, and Asian adolescents increased awareness of inequality longitudinally; white youth showed no change. Multiracial youth accelerated awareness of inequality in mid-adolescence; changes in race and ethnicity predicted decline, followed by increases. Girls with more educated, immigrant-origin parents started out more aware of inequality. Results signal the need for race-specific and intersectional approaches to studying critical consciousness development.

Examination of ethnic racial identity exploration and commitment in emerging adults: Group comparisons and specific features of multiracial identity

Objective: Building on existing literature on ethnic/racial identity in emerging adulthood, we compared between-group differences for Multiracial and Monoracial participants and relevant within-group relationships for Multiracial participants. Participants: Participants were college students (n = 888; 67% women; Mage = 21.7; SD = 5.58) categorized into three groups: Monoracial White (61%), Multiracial (17%), and Monoracial Minoritized (22%). Methods: Measures included ethnic racial identity (ERI) exploration and commitment, discrimination, and features of Multiracial identity. The survey was sent through campus email and completed electronically. Results: Monoracial Minoritized participants reported higher discrimination and ERI commitment and exploration than Multiracial and Monoracial White participants. Multiracial participants reported higher ERI exploration and discrimination than Monoracial White participants. Multiracial participants' ERI exploration and racial conflict explained ERI commitment in regression models. Conclusions: Multiracial individuals should be researched and intervened with differentially from other racial groups, with variables specific to their unique experiences.

Social and Structural Influences on Multiracial Identification and Health: a Public Health Mandate to Precisely Measure, Theorize, and Better Understand Multiracial Populations

There is a growing group of adolescents and young adults in the USA who identify as multiracial. However, very little research, especially health research, focuses on understanding multiracial identification and health and behavioral outcomes for multiracial populations in comparison to their single-race counterparts. Understanding the intersectional influences on this identification process is critical to updating the literature on racial and ethnic identity and health with more accurate identifications and categories. It is especially critical that there is an explicit focus on understanding the impact of structural racism and discrimination when studying the process of racial identification and the impact on health. This review takes an interdisciplinary approach relying on a review of multiple research literatures: the historical literature on race, racism and categorization, psychological and adolescent medicine literatures on adolescent development, the sociological literature on racial and ethnic identification, and the limited public health research beginning to disentangle multiracial health outcomes. An empirically testable conceptual framework is offered to frame the organization of this review-demonstrating the multiple spheres of influence on racial and ethnic identification and the implication for health outcomes.

Imagination and social cognition in childhood

Imagination is a cognitive process used to generate new ideas from old, not just in the service of creativity and fantasy, but also in our ordinary thoughts about alternatives to current reality. In this article, I argue for the central function of imagination in the development of social cognition in infancy and childhood. In Section 1, I review a work showing that even in the first year of life, social cognition can be viewed through a nascent ability to imagine the physical possibilities and physical limits on action. In Section 2, I discuss how imagination of what should happen is appropriately constrained by what can happen, and how this influences children's moral evaluations. In the final section, I suggest developmental changes in imagination—especially the ability to imagine improbable events—may have implications for social inference, leading children to learn that inner motives can conflict. These examples point to a flexible and domain‐general process that operates on knowledge to make social meaning.

This article is categorized under:

Psychology > Development and Aging

Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development

Philosophy > Knowledge and Belief

Body dissatisfaction and ethnic identity are associated with loss of control eating among young adult African American men

African American men are rarely the focus of attention in investigations of loss of control (LOC) eating. Theory and extant data support a robust link between body dissatisfaction and LOC eating behaviors in women. Ethnic identity may buffer this association, as the degree to which racially and ethnically diverse women identify with their ethnic group has been shown to decrease the relevancy of the Western culture body ideal, thereby decreasing disordered eating pathology. These associations have not been evaluated in African American men. The current study examined the link between body dissatisfaction and LOC eating frequency in 261 young African American men (1830 years old). Ethnic identity was evaluated as an independent variable and as a putative moderator. After adjusting for income, education, and body mass index, body dissatisfaction was significantly and positively associated with LOC eating frequency (p < .001). Ethnic identity did not function as a significant moderator (p = .84) but was significantly and inversely associated with LOC eating frequency (p < .001). Although longitudinal studies are needed, these data suggest that there may be multiple pathways through which young African American men engage in LOC eating. Similar to extant research with women and other ethnic groups, body dissatisfaction appears to play a role in the LOC eating of African American men. Additional research is needed to clarify the nature of the association between ethnic identity and LOC eating in this population.

Multiracial individuals' experiences of rejection and acceptance from different racial groups and implications for life satisfaction

Two studies examine Multiracial Asian-White, Black-White, Latinx-White, and Native American-White people's experiences of rejection (Study 1) and acceptance (Study 2) from potential racial ingroups, and associations with life satisfaction. In Study 1, Multiracial participants reported comparable levels of rejection from their monoracial minoritized ingroups and White ingroup, but significantly less rejection from their Multiracial ingroup. In Study 2, participants reported feeling slightly less accepted from monoracial minoritized ingroups than from the White ingroup. Across both studies, greater rejection, and less acceptance, from the White ingroup was related to lower life satisfaction. Notably, this effect was strongest among Native American-White Multiracial people relative to other Multiracial groups in our sample. Findings highlight how Multiracial people's multiple potential ingroups relate to their social rejection and acceptance experiences, and that rejection and acceptance from higher status potential ingroups (i.e., White people) may play a role in subjective well-being disparities for some Multiracial groups.

Lay Beliefs About Who Can Bridge the Black–White Racial Gap During Interracial Exchanges

For group discussions about fraught racial topics between Black and White Americans to be beneficial, conversation participants must view the person who facilitates as effective at communicating both the perspectives of Black and White Americans. We identify a biracial advantage in this domain. In three studies (total N = 710), we tested how a facilitator’s race affects their perceived effectiveness in communicating with both Black and White Americans. Both Black and White participants expected Black and White monoracial facilitators to more effectively engage with racial in-group than racial out-group members. However, they expected biracial facilitators to be equally effective in communicating with both Black and White groups. Both Black and White participants also expected biracial facilitators to use productive learning strategies (perspective taking, showing empathy) more than White facilitators, and either more than or equally to Black facilitators, suggesting one reason why people expect biracial facilitators to perform well in these moments.

Neighborhood racial demographics predict infants' neural responses to people of different races

Early in life, greater exposure to diverse people can change the tendency to prefer one's own social group. For instance, infants from racially diverse environments show less preference for their own-race (ingroup) over other-race (outgroup) faces than infants from racially homogeneous environments. Yet how social environment changes ingroup versus outgroup demarcation in infancy remains unclear. A commonly held assumption is that early emerging ingroup preference is based on an affective process: feeling more comfortable with familiar ingroup than unfamiliar outgroup members. However, other processes may also underlie ingroup preference: Infants may attend more to ingroup than outgroup members and/or mirror the actions of ingroup over outgroup individuals. By aggregating 7- to 12-month-old infants' electroencephalography (EEG) activity across three studies, we disambiguate these different processes in the EEG oscillations of preverbal infants according to social environment. White infants from more racially diverse neighborhoods exhibited greater frontal theta oscillation (an index of top-down attention) and more mu rhythm desynchronization (an index of motor system activation and potentially neural mirroring) to racial outgroup individuals than White infants from less racially diverse neighborhoods. Neighborhood racial demographics did not relate to White infants' frontal alpha asymmetry (a measure of approach-withdrawal motivation) toward racial outgroup individuals. Racial minority infants showed no effects of neighborhood racial demographics in their neural responses to racial outgroup individuals. These results indicate that neural mechanisms that may underlie social bias and prejudices are related to neighborhood racial demographics in the first year of life.

Chicago Face Database: Multiracial expansion

Multiracial individuals represent a growing segment of the population and have been increasingly the focus of empirical study. Much of this research centers on the perception and racial categorization of multiracial individuals. The current paper reviews some of this research and describes the different types of stimuli that have been used in these paradigms. We describe the strengths and weaknesses associated with different operationalizations of multiracialism and highlight the dearth of research using faces of real multiracial individuals, which we posit may be due to the lack of available stimuli. Our research seeks to satisfy this need by providing a free set of high-resolution, standardized images featuring 88 real multiracial individuals along with extensive norming data and objective physical measures of these faces. These data are offered as an extension of the widely used Chicago Face Database and are available for download at www.chicagofaces.org for use in research.

How Policies Can Address Multiracial Stigma

Twenty years ago, Multiracial Americans completed the U.S Census with the option to indicate more than one race for the first time. As we embark on the second anniversary of this shift in Multiracial recognition, this article reviews the research related to known sources and systems that perpetuate Multiracial-specific stigma. Policy recommendations address the needs and the continued acknowledgment of this growing racial/ethnic minority population.

The Development of Intersectional Social Prototypes

Race and gender information overlap to shape adults’ representations of social categories. This overlap may contribute to the psychological “invisibility” of people whose race and gender identities are perceived to have conflicting stereotypes. The present research (N = 249) examined when race begins to bias representations of gender across development. Children and adults engaged in a speeded task in which they categorized photographs of faces of women and men from three racial categories: Asian, Black, and White (four photographs per gender and racial group). In Study 1, participants were slower to categorize photographs of Black women as women than photographs of White and Asian women as women and Black men as men. They also were more likely to miscategorize photographs of Black women as men and less likely to stereotype Black women as feminine. Study 2 replicated these findings and provided evidence of a developmental shift in categorization speed. An omnibus analysis provided a high-powered test of this developmental hypothesis, revealing that target race begins biasing children’s gender categorization around age 5. Implications for the development of social-category representation are discussed.

How Do Multiracial and Monoracial People Categorize Multiracial Faces?

Due to their awareness of multiraciality and their perceptions of race categories as fluid, multiracial individuals may be unique in how they racially categorize multiracial faces. Yet race categorization research has largely overlooked how multiracial individuals categorize other mixed-race people. We therefore asked Asian, White, and multiracial individuals to categorize Asian-White faces using an open-ended response format, which more closely mirrors real-world race categorizations than forced-choice response formats. Our results showed that perceivers from all three racial groups tended to categorize Asian-White faces as monoracial Asian, White, or Hispanic. However, multiracial perceivers categorized the Asian-White faces as multiracial more often than monoracial perceivers did. Our findings suggest that multiracial individuals may approach racial categorization differently from either monoracial majority or minority group members. Furthermore, our results illustrate possible difficulties multiracial people may face when trying to identify other multiracial in-group members.

“Mixed” Drinking Motivations: A Comparison of Majority, Multiracial, and Minority College Students

Social exclusion is associated with substance use, but the specific link between majority and minority racial group membership and substance use is unknown. We examined how social exclusion among racial majority (White), Multiracial, and racial minority (Native American, Latino, Asian, and Black) college students relates to self-reported alcohol use and motivations. Using the AlcoholEdu for College™ survey, Study 1a reports five factors related to motives for initiating or inhibiting alcohol use. Study 1b analyzes majority, Multiracial, and minority college students’ comparative endorsement of these motivations. Study 2 compares these factors with established belonging scales using a separate undergraduate sample. White, Multiracial, Native American, and Latino students displayed the highest proportion of problematic alcohol use. White students endorsed belonging-based drinking motivations, while Multiracial and Asian students endorsed motivations similar to both majority and minority groups. Native American, Latino, and Black students endorsed abstaining motivations more than other groups.

Not Quite Monoracial: Biracial Stereotypes Explored

Stereotypes often guide our perceptions of members of social groups. However, research has yet to document what stereotypes may exist for the fastest growing youth demographic in the United States-biracial individuals. Across seven studies (N = 1,104), we investigate what stereotypes are attributed to various biracial groups, whether biracial individuals are stereotyped as more similar to their lower status monoracial parent group (trait hypodescent), and whether contact moderates these stereotypes. Results provide evidence of some universal biracial stereotypes that are applied to all biracial groups: attractive and not fitting in or belonging. We also find that all biracial groups are attributed a number of unique stereotypes (i.e., which are not associated with their monoracial parent groups). However, across all studies, we find little evidence of trait hypodescent and no evidence that the tendency to engage in trait hypodescent varies as a function of contact.

At face value: Psychological outcomes differ for real vs. computer-generated multiracial faces

Multiracial research emphasizes hypodescent categorizations and relies on computer-generated stimuli. Four experiments showed that real biracial faces in a 2-Choice categorization task (White, Black) elicited hypodescent more than computer-generated faces. Additionally, Experiment 2 showed a 2-Choice categorization task with real biracial faces increased racial essentialism more than a 3-Choice categorization task. Experiment 3 showed that mere exposure to real biracial faces did not increase essentialism. Finally, Experiments 4a and 4b replicated hypodescent outcomes when comparing real biracial faces to computer-generated versions of those same faces. In sum, these findings initiate a discussion surrounding the methodology of multiracial categorizations.

Exposure to Biracial Faces Reduces Colorblindness

Across six studies, we demonstrate that exposure to biracial individuals significantly reduces endorsement of colorblindness as a racial ideology among White individuals. Real-world exposure to biracial individuals predicts lower levels of colorblindness compared with White and Black exposure (Study 1). Brief manipulated exposure to images of biracial faces reduces colorblindness compared with exposure to White faces, Black faces, a set of diverse monoracial faces, or abstract images (Studies 2-5). In addition, these effects occur only when a biracial label is paired with the face rather than resulting from the novelty of the mixed-race faces themselves (Study 4). Finally, we show that the shift in White participants' colorblindness attitudes is driven by social tuning, based on participants' expectations that biracial individuals are lower in colorblindness than monoracial individuals (Studies 5-6). These studies suggest that the multiracial population's increasing size and visibility has the potential to positively shift racial attitudes.

Perceived Discrimination and Intergroup Behaviors: The Role of Muslim and American Identity Integration

In this article, we test the proposition that identity integration—or perceptions of compatibility versus conflict between one’s social identities—predicts behaviors in intergroup contexts. Using a sample of 171 Muslim Arab American adolescents aged 13 to 19, we examine the relations between identity integration of Muslim and American identities, experiences of discrimination, and intentions to avoid and approach members of the majority group. For adolescents who perceived their American and Muslim identities as being in conflict, we found that perceived discrimination was positively related to intentions to avoid the majority group. However, this trend was not significant for those who perceived their American and Muslim identities as highly integrated. These effects held after controlling for participants’ strength of identification with both American and Muslim identities, and number of years lived in the United States. These results provide support for the idea that identity integration among stigmatized minorities may buffer the negative effects of discrimination on intergroup behaviors.

Multiracial in Middle School: The Influence of Classmates and Friends on Changes in Racial Self-Identification

In the present research, the influence of racial diversity among classmates and friends on changes in racial self-identification among multiracial youth was examined (n = 5,209; M_age  = 10.56 years at the beginning of sixth grade). A novel individual-level measure of diversity among classmates based on participants' course schedules was utilized. The findings revealed that although there was some fluidity in multiracial identification at the beginning of middle school, changes in multiracial identification were more evident later in middle school. In addition, although diversity among classmates and friends both increased the likelihood of multiracial identification in the beginning of middle school, only diversity among friends mattered later in middle school, when fluidity in multiracial identification was at its peak.

Commentary: The Role of Race/Ethnicity in a Developmental Science of Equity and Justice

This commentary makes a case for the role of school racial/ethnic diversity in a new developmental science of equity and justice with a focus on intergroup attitudes, discrimination, and social exclusion. Creative ways to conceptualize and measure ethnic diversity as a multifaceted, dynamic, and fluid construct that changes across time and space are discussed. The commentary concludes with policy implications of this approach for improving the lives of children growing up in an increasingly multiracial/multiethnic society.

White’s Perceptions of Biracial Individuals’ Race Shift When Biracials Speak Out Against Bias

Previous research suggests that a person’s racial identity shapes the way others respond when that person speaks out against racial prejudice. In the present research, we consider instead how speaking out against racial prejudice shapes people’s impressions of a confronter’s racial identity, such as experiences with discrimination, stereotype enactment, and even phenotype. Two experiments found that White perceivers evaluated a Black/White biracial person who spoke out against (vs. remained silent to) racial prejudice as more stigmatized and Black identified and as having more stereotypically Black (vs. White) preferences and Black (vs. White) ancestry when they confronted. The faces of biracial confronters (vs. nonconfronters) were also recalled as more phenotypically Black (vs. White; S2). This evidence suggests that speaking out against bias colors Whites’ impressions of a biracial target across both subjective and objective measures of racial identity. Implications for interracial interactions and interpersonal perception are discussed.

Mismatches in Self-Reported and Meta-Perceived Ethnic Identification across the High School Years

Ethnic identification (i.e., one's self-reported ethnicity) is a social construction and therefore subject to misperceptions by others. When adolescents' self-views and others' perceptions are not aligned, adolescents may experience adjustment challenges. The present study examined mismatches between adolescents' ethnic identification (i.e., self-reported ethnicity) and meta-perceptions (i.e., what ethnicity they believed their schoolmates presumed them to be), as well as longitudinal associations between mismatches and adjustment across the high school years. Participants (M_age =14.5; 57% girls) were an ethnically diverse sample of 1151 low-income high school students who had participated in an earlier longitudinal study during middle school. Although ethnic identification was largely consistent across the high school years, many students (46%) experienced at least occasional mismatches between their self-reported ethnic identification and meta-perceptions, with students who ever identified as multiethnic experiencing more mismatches than their monoethnic counterparts. Experiencing a mismatch was associated with more depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and lower self-worth.

Early Adolescents' Peer Experiences with Ethnic Diversity in Middle School: Implications for Academic Outcomes

As the U.S. becomes increasingly ethnically diverse, opportunities for cross-ethnic interaction at school may be increasing, and these interactions may have implications for academic outcomes for both ethnic minority and White youth. The current study examines how cross-ethnic peer relationships, measured using peer nominations for acceptance and daily lunchtime interactions, relate to academic outcomes for an ethnically diverse sample of 823 (45% boys and 55% girls; M _age  = 11.69) public middle school sixth graders across one Midwestern and two Western states. For White, Black, Asian, Latino/a, and Multiethnic students, self-reported daily cross-ethnic peer interactions were associated with higher end-of-year GPAs in core academic courses and teachers' expectations for educational attainment, but not self-reported school aversion. Making cross-ethnic acceptance nominations was not associated with any academic outcomes. Thus, daily opportunities for cross-ethnic interactions may be important school experiences for early adolescents.

The cross-race effect in face recognition memory by bicultural individuals

Social-cognitive models of the cross-race effect (CRE) generally specify that cross-race faces are automatically categorized as an out-group, and that different encoding processes are then applied to same-race and cross-race faces, resulting in better recognition memory for same-race faces. We examined whether cultural priming moderates the cognitive categorization of cross-race faces. In Experiment 1, monoracial Latino-Americans, considered to have a bicultural self, were primed to focus on either a Latino or American cultural self and then viewed Latino and White faces. Latino-Americans primed as Latino exhibited higher recognition accuracy (A') for Latino than White faces; those primed as American exhibited higher recognition accuracy for White than Latino faces. In Experiment 2, as predicted, prime condition did not moderate the CRE in European-Americans. These results suggest that for monoracial biculturals, priming either of their cultural identities influences the encoding processes applied to same- and cross-race faces, thereby moderating the CRE.

Early Immersive Culture Mixing

Why some multicultural individuals think and identify differently to others is a question that is yet to be clearly answered. We suggest that a key antecedent to psychological differences among multiculturals is early immersive culture mixing, or experiencing multiple cultures simultaneously at home while growing up. We propose that innate multiculturals (defined as individuals who have experienced early immersive culture mixing) are cognitively guided by a single hybrid cultural schema and have a hybrid cultural identity. This would make them fundamentally different from achieved multiculturals (individuals who have become multicultural in other ways), who should possess multiple distinct cultural schemas and cultural identities. A quasi-experiment indicated that, as predicted, innate multiculturals were guided by a single cultural frame with respect to attribution and locus of attention, whereas achieved multiculturals switched between different cultural frames. Innate multiculturals also reported a more integrated cultural identity than did achieved multiculturals. These findings open a new avenue in multiculturalism research, with important potential implications of early immersive culture mixing for a range of individual outcomes such as creativity.

The Development of White-Asian Categorization: Contributions from Skin Color and Other Physiognomic Cues

We examined the development of racial categorizations of faces spanning the European-East Asian ("White-Asian") categorical continuum in children between the ages of four and nine as well as adults. We employed a stimulus set that independently varied skin color and other aspects of facial physiognomy, allowing the contribution of each to be assessed independently and in interaction with each other. Results demonstrated substantial development across this age range in children's ability to draw on both sorts of cue, with over twice as much variance explained by stimulus variation in adults than children. Nonetheless, children were clearly sensitive to both skin color and other aspects of facial physiognomy, suggesting that understanding of the White-Asian category boundary develops in a somewhat different way than understanding of the White-Black category boundary, in which attention to features other than skin color appear only somewhat later. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for theories of social categorization.

Multiracial Children's and Adults' Categorizations of Multiracial Individuals

Research has explored how multiracial individuals are categorized by monoracial individuals, but has not yet explored how they are categorized by multiracial individuals themselves. We examined how multiracial children (4-9 years) and adults categorized multiracial targets (presented with and without parentage information). When parentage information was provided, multiracial targets were more likely to be categorized as neither wholly black nor wholly white. However, both multiracial adults and children more often categorized multiracial targets as black than as white regardless of the absence or presence of parentage information. For multiracial children, increased contact with white people predicted the tendency to categorize multiracial targets as black. These data suggest that multiracial children's categorizations are more flexible than those of monoracial children in previous research, and that the tendency to categorize multiracial targets as black emerges early in development within multiracial samples, and is especially likely in predominantly white contexts.

Priming White identity elicits stereotype boost for biracial Black-White individuals

Psychological threat experienced by students of negatively stereotyped groups impairs test performance. However, stereotype boost can also occur if a positively stereotyped identity is made salient. Biracial individuals, whose racial identities may be associated with both negative and positive testing abilities, have not been examined in this context. Sixty-four biracial Black-White individuals wrote about either their Black or White identity or a neutral topic and completed a verbal Graduate Record Examination (GRE) examination described as diagnostic of their abilities. White-primed participants performed significantly better than both Black-primed and control participants. Thus, biracial Black-White individuals experience stereotype boost only when their White identity is made salient.