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The Impact of the Media on Biracial Identity Formation

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The Impact of the Media on Biracial Identity Formation THE IMPACT OF THE MEDIA ON BIRACIAL IDENTITY FORMATION Alicia Edison, B.S. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2007 APPROVED: George Yancey, Committee Chair Kevin Yoder, Committee Member Mariela Nunez-Janes, Committee Member David Williamson, Chair of Department of Sociology Tom Evenson, Dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Services Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Edison, Alicia. The Impact of the Media on Biracial Identity Formation. Master of Science (Sociology), December 2007, 86 pp., 10 tables, 3 appendices, references, 57 titles. Biracial individuals undergo a developmental process that is different than monoracial individuals. Not only do they have to develop a strong and cohesive self- esteem, but also develop a strong and cohesive racial identity to have a healthy self- concept. The media is a social structure that has infiltrated into many aspects of American lives, including their racial identity. The media perpetuates current beliefs concerning race and racial identity. This research investigates how biracial identity has been portrayed in the media. Historically, biracial individuals have been portrayed as the tragic “mulatto” because of their confused racial background. In addition, mulatto women have been stereotyped as exotic and sexual objects. A content analysis was used to investigate how the media presents biracial identity. Only movies with black/white biracial individuals were watched. The categories under study included perceived race, character’s race, skin color, likeability, sex appeal, ability to contribute, ability to be violent, mental health, overall positive portrayal social, and negative portrayal score. This study may suggest that the media is making attempts to rectify old stereotypes. Overall, this study does demonstrate that the media portrays biracial and black characters differently in film. One overarching theme from these results implies that the perception of race is more salient than one’s actual race. Copyright 2007 by Alicia Edison ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ v INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 3 Race ..................................................................................................................... 3 History of Race Relations ..................................................................................... 6 One-Drop Rule ................................................................................................... 10 Importance of Racial Identity .............................................................................. 11 Census ............................................................................................................... 12 Choosing a Race................................................................................................ 13 Identity Models ................................................................................................... 15 Factors in Biracial Identity Construction ............................................................. 25 Family ................................................................................................................. 32 Other Factors...................................................................................................... 35 Identity Issues Facing Biracial Individuals .......................................................... 37 Well-Being .......................................................................................................... 41 Media ................................................................................................................. 45 THEORY ....................................................................................................................... 51 HYPOTHESES.............................................................................................................. 53 PROCEDURE ............................................................................................................... 56 Interrater Reliability Score .................................................................................. 59 Data Analysis...................................................................................................... 59 Results and Discussion ...................................................................................... 60 LIMITATIONS................................................................................................................ 71 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................ 72 Appendices A. EVALUATION FORM............................................................................... 74 iii B. INTERRATOR RELIABILITY SCORES ................................................... 76 C. LIST OF ACTOR/ACTRESSES AND MOVIES........................................ 78 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 82 iv LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Percentage Distribution of Roles Played by Skin Color and Gender .................. 62 2. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Overall Positive Portrayal Score on Character’s Race........................ 62 3. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Overall Positive Portrayal Score on Perceived Race.......................... 63 4. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Overall Negative Portrayal Score on Character’s Race...................... 63 5. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Overall Negative Portrayal Score on Perceived Race ........................ 64 6. Percentage Distribution of Roles Played by Women and Skin Color.................. 64 7. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Attractiveness by Character’s Race.................................................... 65 8. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Attractiveness by Perceived Race ...................................................... 65 9. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Ability to Contribute by Character’s Race ........................................... 66 10. Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effects of Ability to Contribute by Perceived Race.............................................. 66 11. Means, Standard Deviation, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effect of Likeability by Character’s Race ............................................................ 67 12. Means, Standard Deviation, and t-Test for Equality for Means for Effect of Likeability by Perceived Race............................................................................. 67 13. Means, Standard Deviation, and One-Way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) for Effect of Ability to be Violent by Character’s Race.............................................. 67 14. Means, Standard Deviation, and t-Test for Equality of Means for Effect of Ability to be Violent by Perceived Race......................................................................... 68 15. Means, Standard Deviation, and t-Test for Equality of Means for Effect of Skin Color by Character’s Race ................................................................................. 68 v 16. Means, Standard Deviation, and t-Test for Equality of Means for Effect of Skin Color by Perceived Race.................................................................................... 69 vi INTRODUCTION The media has infiltrated many aspects of our everyday lives from what brand of cereal to eat for breakfast, how to dress, and even how to label ourselves racially. I, for one, have been impacted by the media. As a small girl in a little Wisconsin town, I often felt alone and “different” compared to my classmates and relatives. I did not look like them. Although I tried to fit in, some how I still felt out of place. Not until I saw a music video by Mariah Carey did I feel like there was someone out there who was like me. At that time, I did not label myself as biracial because I did not understand the concept nor ever heard the term. However, after seeing her videos, I gained as sense of self- acceptance and started to value the way I looked, curly wild hair and all. I believe that the media should be studied more thoroughly to attain a better understanding of its impact, and in the case of this research, racial identity formation. Biracial individuals not only have to develop self-esteem and an understanding of self, but they must also develop a strong racial identity to have a healthy self-concept. The following research investigates how biracial identity is portrayed in the media. Discussion in previous research has focused on factors such as residential location, parenting style, and schools in the influence on racial identity choices of biracial youths. Other research has focused on identity development models. The result
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