Intergenerational Transmission in the Multiracial Context

Sarah Schlabach, University of California, Los Angeles

While interracial unions are currently on the rise, these unions still encounter stigma and discrimination. Prior research suggests that this stigma primarily comes from the individual partners’ family of origin who do not want them to be in an interracial relationship and express concerns about the children produced from these relationships. My analysis will build off this previous research and attempt to further unravel complex outcomes for the growing multiracial family type. Specifically, my research will examine the grandparent-grandchild relationship in multiracial households. Answering the questions: Do grandparents invest the same amount of time and money into their grandchildren if they are multiracial? Are children typically closer to the minority race grandparent or White grandparent? Does grandparent relationship vary by specific multiracial combination involved? I will answer this question using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a large scale and nationally representative dataset.