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Abstract Despite increasing racial diversity in the United States, and the particular growth of multiracial populations, questions about how children perceive others’ (bi)racial identities remain poorly understood. In two preregistered studies, we asked White and racially minoritized American children (N = 157; 4–11‐years old) and White and multiracial adults (N = 226) how acceptable it was for monoracial people (Black or White; Study 1) and/or biracial people (Black–White; Studies 1 and 2) to claim either a monoracial or biracial identity. Consistent with past research with adults, children said that monoracial people should claim (only) the monoracial identity which matched their ancestry. Judgements about biracial identity were more variable. White and multiracial adults (Study 2) reported that biracial targets could claim a racial identity that matched either or both of their parents, with biracial claims being evaluated most positively. Exploratory analyses on children's judgements about biracial people's identity claims (Study 1) revealed different patterns of development for White children and children from minoritized backgrounds. Whereas White children became more likely with age to report that all identity claims were acceptable, children from racially minoritized groups became more likely with age to endorse biracial targets who claimed a biracial identity. These findings suggest that children's own racial background and age may have a larger impact on their perceptions of biracial people's identities, compared to their perceptions of monoracial people's identities.
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Who is a typical woman? Exploring variation in how race biases representations of gender across development
Abstract From early in development, race biases how children think about gender—often in a manner that treats Black women as less typical and representative ofwomen in generalthan White or Asian women. The present study (N = 89, ages 7–11; predominately Hispanic, White, and multi‐racial children) examined the generalizability of this phenomenon across middle childhood and the mechanisms underlying variability in its development. Replicating prior work, children were slower and less accurate to categorize the gender of Black women compared to Asian or White women, as well as compared to Black men, suggesting that children perceived Black women as less representative of their gender. These effects were robust across age within a racially and ethnically diverse sample of children. Children's tendencies to view their own racial identities as expansive and flexible, however, attenuated these effects: Children with more flexible racial identities also had gender concepts that were more inclusive of Black women. In contrast, the tendency for race to bias children's gender representations was unrelated to children's multiple classification skill and racial essentialism. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying variation in how race biases gender across development, with critical implications for how children's own identities shape the development of intergroup cognition and behavior.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2122112
- PAR ID:
- 10362806
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Developmental Science
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1363-755X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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