The Black-White biracial population is the largest and fastest growing subgroup of multiracial individuals in the United States. Despite substantial research literature on the positive relationship between Black racial identity and psychological wellbeing, Black-White biracial individuals are underrepresented in studies that provide evidence for this relationship. Root (1998) put forward an Ecological Metamodel of Biracial Identity, comprised of several factors related to contextual (e.g. class, regional history of race-relations, parental identity, extended family) and intra-psychic processes (e.g. social skills, coping skills). The ecological metamodel served as the theoretical framework for the current study. This study is a comprehensive investigation of the ecological system of one Black-White interracial family living in Virginia. Using an ethnographic research design, race-related messages delivered in environmental contexts (e.g. school, community, and home) and racial socialization messages received by Black-White biracial individuals were examined. The family recruited for this study consisted of four members: a White mother, a Black father, a 15 year-old male, and an 11 year-old female. Over the course of 6 months, the researcher conducted individual interviews with nuclear and extended family members; administered the White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale, the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, the African Home Environment Inventory, and a genogram exercise; and engaged in participant observation and direct observation of the family in the home and at community events. Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis, themes were identified within and between data sources. Results revealed that parents communicate that race is not as important as other characteristics of an individual (e.g. honesty, work ethic). The majority White community environments frequently communicated stereotypes of Blacks and that the children are “different.” The children expressed differences in their racial identities, which is related to significant race-related events and perhaps gender effects. Because of the differing community and home race-related messages, the findings demonstrate the importance of understanding racial identity in multiple environmental contexts, which is particularly important for clinical applications for Black-White interracial families and Black-White biracial individuals in therapy. Future studies should explore possible reasons for gender differences in Black-White biracial identity and the interaction between socioeconomic status and race-related messages.

Master of Science / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Carla Jones / Multiracial identity development has been a topic of study that has slowly begun to grow interest in academia. While it is important to acknowledge the process of multiracial identity development in and of itself, it is also essential to understand how this development is influenced by different ecological factors in higher education, such as when and where a multiracial student may encounter instances of marginalization, as well as instances of mattering. One of the more prominent facets of this ecology is race-oriented student services, which can provide either a space in which multiracial students feel marginalized, or one in which they feel that they matter. This report will examine multiracial identity development and why it is needed in order to better understand multiracial students’ needs, as well as how race-oriented student services affect development and expression of their identity.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen S. Myers-Bowman / Rudabeh Nazarinia-Roy / Racial identity of mixed race individuals is important to understand because of the growing proportion of the population with parents from different racial groups. Having more than one racial heritage has a direct impact on how these children are seen by others as well as how they understand and encounter the world around them. Parents socialize their children in matters of race and discrimination that can impact their racial identity development, which is a component of their overall identity development. The aim of this study was explore how multiracial children are socialized and the impact of that socialization on racial identity formation from a heuristic perspective. Heuristic inquiry is a facet of phenomenology that seeks to understand the researcher’s experience of the phenomenon; therefore, I provided data on my experiences with raising a mixed-race child in a monoracial family. Two other families experiencing the same phenomenon were also interviewed. Themes related to racial profiling, parental perception of the mixed race child’s personality, skin tone, level of respect, and parenting were identified through the five-step analysis process recommended by Moustakas for heuristic inquiry, including immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. This study highlights relevant aspects in the lives of mixed-race children, how that impacts the way society views mixed-race individuals, and how those individuals encounter the world around them.

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