Racial Self-Categorization in Adolescence: Multiracial Development and Social Pathways

Research on multiracial individuals is often cross-sectional, obscuring the fluid nature of multiracial self-categorization across time. Pathways of racial self-identification are developed from a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 14-18, measured again 5 years later. A significant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 2006-09, Vol.77 (5), p.1298-1308
Main Authors: Hitlin, Steven, Scott Brown, J., Elder Jr, Glen H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescent
Adolescents
Biological and medical sciences
Case Studies
Censuses
Child development
Classification
Cluster Grouping
Continental Population Groups
Cultural Diversity
Developmental psychology
Ethnic identity
Family studies
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Identity
Identity theory
Male
Multiracial families
Multiracial people
Multiracial Persons
Optimism
Psychological Characteristics
Psychological Studies
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative Research
Race
Racial Identification
Racial identity
Racism
Self Concept
Self esteem
Selfcategorization theory
Selfidentity
Social Behavior
Social Characteristics
Social Identification
Social identity
Social psychology
Social research
Socialization
Teenagers
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Summary:Research on multiracial individuals is often cross-sectional, obscuring the fluid nature of multiracial self-categorization across time. Pathways of racial self-identification are developed from a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 14-18, measured again 5 years later. A significant proportion of multiracial adolescents change racial self-identification across time. Youth who ever report being multiracial are 4 times as likely to switch self-identification as to report consistent multiracial identities. Across this time, more multiracial adolescents either add a racial category (diversify) or subtract one (consolidate) than maintain consistent multiracial self-categorization. Exploratory multinomial analyses show few differences between these pathways on select psychological and social characteristics. Results lend quantitative support to qualitative studies indicating the fluidity of racial self-categorization.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00935.x