The field of psychology is coming towards a critical juncture; scholars are increasingly recognizing that race, ethnicity, and culture play important roles in their fields of study, but do not always have the language to integrate race and culture into their own work. Furthermore, common conceptions of race may systematically exclude those from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds in favor of fixed and discrete racial categories that ultimately perpetuate white supremacy. Meanwhile, as the Multiracial population of the US is growing at an unprecedented rate, psychologists need language to acknowledge this population in their studies and pursue research to advance the field’s knowledge of this diverse group and its many subpopulations. In an attempt to educate psychologists across subfields and disciplines, we provide a detailed account of preferred terms related to race and ethnicity with emphasis on ways to think about and talk about Multiracial populations in the United States. While preferred terms may change across time, the aim of this paper is to provide psychologists with the tools to begin nuanced and necessary discussions about how race informs their research and the populations they work with in uniform and non-stigmatizing ways. By highlighting terminology related to those of multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds, we demystify and legitimize these rapidly-growing but often hidden populations. Different perspectives on various terms are provided throughout to set psychologists on the path to beginning more race-conscious conversations and scientific inquiries into the experiences of Multiracial Americans and those from other marginalized racial-ethnic groups.

As the research on familism values, or cultural values relating to support, interconnectedness, and obligations has blossomed, scholars are increasingly interested in the applicability and impact of familism values across diverse racial/ethnic youth. However, existing measures of familism tend to be long, posing potential practicality issues and have not been validated for use across youth from different racial/ethnic groups. Through a series of conceptual steps and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we developed the Short Attitudinal Familism Scale, a 6-item, shortened, unidimensional version of Lugo Steidel and Contreras's (2003) 18-item Attitudinal Familism Scale. This measure was created and validated in a sample of 671 Black, Latinx American, Asian American, and Multiracial youth (M_age = 17.23, 73.6% female). Multigroup measurement invariance testing indicated that the Short Attitudinal Familism Scale was almost wholly noninvariant and may be used reliably across racial/ethnic groups. Finally, we established construct validity by demonstrating negative associations with depressive symptoms in all but Asian American youth and positive associations between familism and ethnic-racial identity (ERI) for all youth. In conducting these tests using regressions using observed mean scores and structural equation modeling (SEM) using latent variables, we demonstrated that using a mean score of this scale led to small and negligible amounts of attenuation in estimates and similar statistical conclusions compared to those derived from SEM. Our study adds to the field by introducing a practical, unidimensional measure of familism values that may be used across racial/ethnic groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Little is understood about how Multiracial individuals are socialized around race and ethnicity, and how these socialization messages are related to ethnic-racial identity development. This study utilizes a person-centered framework with a diverse sample of 286 Multiracial college students to examine the patterns of ethnic-racial socialization messages individuals received from their primary caregiver. A latent profile analysis of caregivers' socialization messages produced a four-profile solution: Typical Messages (socialization messages with average frequency), Minority Messages (frequent cultural socialization and preparation for bias geared toward minority group membership), High Mistrust (frequent promotion of mistrust messages), and Low Frequency (all socialization messages at low frequency). Overall, profile differences were evident with respect to ethnic-racial identity endorsement, where participants in the Minority Messages profile endorsed the greatest levels of ethnic/racial exploration. In addition, individuals in the Minority Messages profile also endorsed higher levels of ethnic/racial identity resolution and affirmation than the High Mistrust and Low Frequency Messages profile. Individuals in the High Mistrust profile endorsed greater levels of identity conflict than the Minority Messages profile. The current study provides evidence that the pattern of socialization messages Multiracial participants received growing up impact their ethnic-racial identity endorsement. Results highlight the need for continued quantitative and person-centered work when studying socialization and identity in Multiracials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Critical civic engagement (CCE) refers to interpersonal, community, and political actions to combat and cope with racial inequity. While discrimination and identity are well-known drivers of civic engagement, it is less well-known how parental preparation for bias socialization, which teaches Black youth how to cope with unequal social systems, works in concert with discrimination and identity to predict CCE. Furthermore, there are several ways individuals may be civically engaged, and these factors may be differentially associated with the various types of CCE. This study uses a sample of 186 Black college students (M_age = 18.72, age range = 18-29; 86% female) to examine how discrimination, ethnic-racial centrality, and preparation for bias socialization interact to differentially predict interpersonal, communal, and political CCE. Discrimination was associated with political CCE, whereas both discrimination and racial centrality were associated with greater communal CCE. A three-way interaction between discrimination, centrality, and preparation for bias socialization predicted greater interpersonal CCE. Findings highlight the importance of attending to sociocultural factors when supporting Black college student activists in public minority-serving institutions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).