Multiracial-Asian Racial Identity Development: Socialization in Families & Other Institutions

Multiracial-Asian Americans form their self-perceptions in interracial families, often with parents who do not fully share their racial identities. With unique social positions between racial categories, multiracials are situated with multiple racial identity options and the potential for fluidity across and between them. Understanding race and forming a sense of self can be complex for multiracials in families with members of different racial identities and ideologies. Multiracial-Asian only-children face particularly unique race socialization circumstances: without a sibling, they may not share racial make-up with any immediate family members and lack a related peer that may provide support and guidance. Without this familial resource, only-children may turn to social institutions outside of families for their racial development. This paper draws on 32 qualitative interviews with multiracial-Asian young adults without siblings to understand how racial identities develop in single-child families and the influence of other institutions. It explores how families serve as both the primary site of development and as a socializing agent, and how other institutions—namely schools, neighborhoods, and media—interact with families in race socialization processes. I find that multiracial-Asian only-children whose families do not discuss race find pivotal resources for their racial learning in other institutions that shape their identity development. Participants whose families actively participate in race socialization enter other institutions with foundational understandings that inform their perception of racialized treatment, organization, and representation that occurs outside of the family. Considering other institutions alongside families in multiracial-Asian socialization is essential for understanding their racialized outcomes.