Hidden Among the Hidden: Transracially Adopted Korean American Adults Raising Multiracial Children

The parenting practices of both transracially adopted Korean American adults and multiracial families are often overlooked in developmental science, yet are important to address given that the majority of Korean adoptees are now adults with families of their own and given rapid increases in the multiracial population. This qualitative study examined the cultural socialization beliefs and practices among transracially adopted Korean Americans who are parents of multiracial Asian-White children. Drawing upon interviews with 31 Korean adoptee parents (29 female; Mage = 41.26), we identified four themes that capture parents’ understanding of their children’s multiracial identities, how that understanding subsequently shapes their cultural socialization practices, and how parents’ socialization beliefs and practices vary by developmental stage. These themes described the ways that parents’ cultural socialization practices were shaped by their children’s phenotypes, parents’ understanding of their children’s multiracial identities, geographic location, and the multiracial family context. This study also demonstrated how multiracial couples in our sample engaged in cultural socialization together. Results suggest that Korean adoptee parents largely acknowledged their children’s multiracial identities through labels, but primarily socialized children as monoracial minorities.

“Mom, You Don’t Get It”: A Critical Examination of Multiracial Emerging Adults’ Perceptions of Parental Support

Multiracial families are becoming increasingly common in the United States, yet there is a dearth of research examining how parents of Multiracial youth provide support for navigating challenges associated with being mixed race in a monocentric society. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the parental support strategies that Multiracial emerging adults perceived to be helpful in their own development. Twenty Multiracial emerging adults (50% female, mean age = 20.55) with diverse Multiracial heritages were interviewed about conversations they had with their parents regarding their racial experiences throughout their childhood. Critical supplementary analysis using constructivist grounded theory identified three themes of parental support (i.e., connection support, discrimination support, and Multiracial identity expression support) and informed a conceptual model demonstrating relationships between environmental context, parent characteristics, family dynamics, risks, and identity development. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for researchers and practitioners serving Multiracial families.

Shared Decision Making and Treatment for Minority Children With ADHD

Shared decision making (SDM) involves the patient and family in medical decisions regarding treatment. The purpose of this article is to utilize the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health to explore whether family engagement in SDM increases the odds of treatment for children with ADHD, and more specifically, if the presence of SDM is associated with the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in treatment. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model the odds of treatment for each racial/ethnic group controlling for sociodemographic and health-related variables. Results indicated that White and Multiracial families engaged in SDM were twice as likely to report treatment for ADHD. Black and Latinx families, however, showed no difference in treatment for ADHD when SDM was present. Based on these findings, we conclude that SDM may be less important for Black and Latinx families when making treatment decisions for children with ADHD.

“I Don’t Look Like Her”: Race, Resemblance, and Relationships in Multiracial Families

Race and resemblance are tied to family membership, and relationships characterize family dynamics. In this article, we argue that race, resemblance, and relationships intersect in distinct, layered ways in multiracial families. While scholarship has documented how multiracial families have historically been considered outside of the norm, little research has explored the impact of this racialized reality on family relationships. This article examines how phenotype shapes family interactions and, over time, the family relationships between a child and her or his mother, father, and sibling(s) through the voices of 60 black/white biracial adults. By reflecting on their earliest childhood memories to their most recent encounters, their narratives illuminate experiences shaped by their status in a multiracial—and historically unorthodox—family. We underscore how multiracial families are perceived by others based on racial resemblance (or lack thereof), how family members contend with these racialized perceptions, and how black/white biracial Americans perceive their own family relationships.