Abstract
Adolescence is a time of creativity and exploration of what it means to be oneself with the goal of moving toward a positive, coherent identity that makes sense to the individual adolescent during this period of growth (Tatum, 1999). Though much of the research on multiracial identity has focused on college students and adults, identity development is a lifelong process, with critical exploration happening in adolescence. What we do and think about in adolescence during identity exploration will strengthen neural connections that can shape the way we feel, think, reason, and make decisions into adulthood (Siegel, 2015). Knowing the positive outcomes for multiracial adults with an integrated multiracial identity, it makes sense to begin introducing personal meaning-making of identities at a younger age to build on identity protective factors and resilience (Fisher et al., 2014; Jackson& Samuels, 2019). This chapter explores how racial identity development among multiracial adolescents can better inform our understanding of and support for multiracial college students, who now have always lived in a post-Census 2000 world with the ability to “mark one or more” races. Additionally, I utilize Critical Multiracial Theory (Harris, 2016), developed with college-age students in mind, to understand the factors affecting racial identity development for multiracial adolescents, to showcase the lifespan applicability of this critical approach. The chapter highlights the unique experiences of multiracial adolescents during racial identity development and of how these experiences feed into the college experience and should be considered by higher education professionals.
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Lynch, R. (2022). Coming of Age: Why Multiracial Adolescence Matters for Higher Education. In: Johnston-Guerrero, M.P., Combs, L.D., Malaney-Brown, V.K. (eds) Preparing for Higher Education’s Mixed Race Future. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88821-3_1
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