Have We Advanced Our Knowledge of Biracial Children and Their Parents?

In his review of Michael Connor and Joseph White's edited volume Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America (2^nd ed.), Chammie Austin states,

Although Connor and White state in the preface that "no attempt was made to cover all types of fathers" (p. x), conspicuously absent from the discussion of Black fathers is any chapter on fathers of biracial children. This omission is especially dubious, given the significant number of African American fathers of biracial/multiracial children (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000). Furthermore, this exclusion is also questionable, given the discussion earlier in the text of slave owners fathering Black children. Several scholars (e.g., Lusk, Taylor, Nanney, & Austin, 2010) have written about the challenges facing biracial youth, and the absence of one's father is certain to exacerbate those challenges.

Are psychologists making significant strides in understanding the growing population of biracial children in the United States? Do we adequately understand their socialization, identity development, issues around any stress and coping related to discrimination, and development of their own friendships and romantic relationships? And, do we adequately understand the issues faced by parents of biracial children?

Read the Review

Beyond Baby Daddy: A New (Better) Understanding of African American Fatherhood
By Chammie Austin
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2011 Vol 56(41)