Abstract
Mental health disparities in biracial people compared to their monoracial peers are well documented. Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), or messages from caregivers about
race/ethnicity/culture, may be particularly important in this population who tend to
experience discrimination. Further, a strengthened ethnic-racial identity (ERI) may
explain the relationship between ERS and positive mental health. To date, literature has
focused more on monoracial people, and less is known about what predicts positive
mental health in biracial populations. The current study examined the effect of ERS on
mental health in biracial adults, the mediating role of ERI, and the moderating role of
discrimination. Three hundred and forty-five biracial adults (Mean age= 32.35,
SD=11.17; 58% female) participated in the study. Results showed that although most
ERS related to more depression and anxiety, they also related to a stronger ERI, which in
turn related to lower depression and anxiety. Mediation analyses showed that most ERS
messages had a significant negative indirect effect on depression and anxiety through
stronger ethnic-racial identity. These indirect effects were moderated by the level of
discrimination with most messages displaying protective effects at moderate to high
levels of discrimination. Overall, ERS that discuss race/ethnicity/discrimination seem to
protect the mental health of biracial individuals against discrimination by strengthening
one’s ethnic-racial identity. These findings have implication for parenting/ socialization
of biracial youth in a society that is discriminatory. Filling this gap in research has
potential to mitigate mental health disparities of biracial/multiracial people through better
understanding of their lived experiences.