Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
12-2022
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph. D.
Department
Counseling and Human Development
Degree Program
Counseling and Personnel Services, PhD
Committee Chair
Longerbeam, Susan
Committee Member
Hirschy, Amy
Committee Member
Immekus, Jason
Committee Member
Furr, Sara
Author's Keywords
multiracial college students; implicit anti-Black racial bias; IAT
Abstract
This dissertation sought to examine if there are implicit anti-Black racial bias differences across multiracial people who identify as Black/White compared to multiracial people who do not identify as Black/White, accounting for age, citizenship, and education level. It was also determined if age, citizenship status, and education level moderate the relationship between multiracial identity and implicit anti-Black racial bias. The theories guiding this dissertation were: Heider’s Balance Theory, Multiracial Identity Development, and White Identity Development. The data were collected from Project Implicit, a non-profit organization and international collaborative of researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition. The data analysis approach was a hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis that also tested for interaction effects. The independent variables were race (Multiracial – Black/White, Multiracial – Not Black/White), age, education level, and U.S. citizenship status. The dependent variable was overall IAT score, which measures implicit anti-Black racial bias. The results of this study suggest that multiracial people who do not identify as Black/White have more implicit anti-Black racial bias than multiracial people who do identify as Black/White. Age, citizenship status, and education level were all found to not moderate the relationship between multiracial identity and implicit anti-Black racial bias. This study begins to fill in a gap in existing literature, as little research has been done that examines the implicit racial bias and implicit anti-Black racial bias of multiracial individuals. The results of this study illustrate the importance of support for multiracial individuals (especially for multiracial people who do not identify as Black/White) in navigating implicit racial biases, implicit anti-Black racial bias, colorism, internalized racism, and horizontal racial oppression. Additionally, the results of this study contradict the idea of a “shared” multiracial experience that exists in previous research. The results of this study imply that there is a need for more individualized attention and support for multiracial individuals based on their specific racial identifications. The results also show a need for more research on implicit racial bias, implicit anti-Black racial bias and multiracial individuals based on specific racial identifications.
Recommended Citation
Traxler, Katalina, "Mejorar La Raza: measuring the implicit anti-black racial bias of multiracial individuals." (2022). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4032.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/4032
