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Examining Multiracial Youth in Context: Ethnic Identity Development and Mental Health Outcomes

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Abstract

Although multiracial individuals are the fastest growing population in the United States, research on the identity development of multiracial adolescents remains scant. This study explores the relationship between ethnic identity, its components (affirmation, exploration), and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depressive symptoms) within the contexts of schools for multiracial adolescents. The participants were multiracial and monoracial minority and majority high school students (n = 4,766; 54.6 % female). Among the participants, 88.1 % were Caucasian, 7.4 % were African American, and 4.5 % were multiracial. The research questions examined the relationship between ethnic identity exploration and affirmation on mental health outcomes and explored the role school context plays in this relationship. The findings suggested that multiracial youth experience more exploration and less affirmation than African Americans, but more than Caucasians. In addition, multiracial youth were found to have higher levels of mental health issues than their monoracial minority and majority peers. Specifically, multiracial youth had higher levels of depressive symptoms than their African American and Caucasian counterparts. Multiracial and Caucasian youth had similar levels of anxiety but these levels were significantly higher than African Americans. School diversity did not influence mental health outcomes for multiracial youth. These findings provide insight into the experiences of multiracial youth and underscore the importance of further investigating factors that contribute to their mental health outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors do not have any interests or activities that might be interpreted as influencing the research submitted, and this study was conducted in accordance with APA ethical standards. This research has not been presented at a conference and is not under consideration for publication with any other journals.

Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interests involved in the conduct of this research.

Ethical Standards

Data collected for this study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board/ethnics committee at Michigan State University and the research has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Author contributions

The contribution of each author is as follows: SF conceived of the study, participated in the design, coordinated the written document, and helped draft the document; JR contributed to the intellectual content of the written document and helped draft the document; WWH participated in the design, performed the statistical analysis, and helped draft the document; JB contributed to the design, and coordination of the study and contributed intellectually to the ideas; KT contributed intellectually to the study and helped draft the document. All authors have given final approval of the version to be published.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology, The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40509, USA

    Sycarah Fisher & Kenneth Tyler

  2. Department of School Psychology, Higher Education, and Counselor Education, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Jennifer L. Reynolds

  3. Department of Statistics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Wei-Wen Hsu

  4. Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Jessica Barnes

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  1. Sycarah Fisher
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Correspondence to Sycarah Fisher.

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Fisher, S., Reynolds, J.L., Hsu, WW. et al. Examining Multiracial Youth in Context: Ethnic Identity Development and Mental Health Outcomes. J Youth Adolescence 43, 1688–1699 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0163-2

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