Multiethnicity and Multiethnic Families: Development, Identity, and Resilience

By Hamilton McCubbin, Krystal Ontai and Lisa Kehl

This book and its contributing scientists address core
theoretical, conceptual, developmental, identity, and policy issues
surrounding the changing ethnic profile of American families. Guided
by the increasing number of cross-cultural adoptions, interracial
marriages and the resulting multiethnic families and children, social
and behavioral scientists provide both scientific documentation and
insights about and into these emerging family systems, their dynamics,
challenges and interactions with society and in so doing legitimate this
line of scientific inquiry. Their work, organized and presented in a
coherent form, sets the stage for the advancement of theory, research,
public policy and practice in pursuit of understanding and addressing
their needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450003407

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

LE`A PUBLICATIONS

Le`a Publications was established in 2007 under auspices of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

The foundation of Le`a Publications, inclusive of this book series and a journal, was established through a gift from Sally Lampson Kanehe, a graduate of the School and the University. Her passion for the creation and dissemination of knowledge found expression in Le`a Publications. The name Le`a, meaning completely successful, delightful and pleased as defined in the Hawaiian Language, is also the name given to one of her daughters.

Le`a Publications is intended to serve as a unique venue through which cutting edge knowledge grounded in theory, research, practice and policy which may serve to advance the Social Work profession. It is also intended as a bridge builder linking the profession to other domains of scholarship which have potential for advancing our understanding of individuals, families, communities and society. It is also intended as a catalyst to stimulate and add value to our commitment to indigenous people, the knowledge they have and continue to cultivate and which can be vital to our future as a profession and the well-being of the people we commit ourselves to.

As the editors of the Le`a Publications Book series, we express our appreciation of and privilege to fulfill the vision set forth for this book series and in so doing introduce this first volume.

Le`a Publications Book Series Co-Editors,

Hamilton I. McCubbin, PhD & Paula Morelli, PhD

SERIES BOARD OF ADVISORS

LE`A PUBLICATIONS

The present and future volumes of Le`a Publications is and will be guided by the wisdom and professional perspectives of select individuals who have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally as scholars and leaders in the Profession of Social Work and related fields of study.

• Irwin Epstein, PhD, Helen Rehr Professor of Applied Social Work Practice, Hunter College

• Paula Allen Mears, PhD, Chancellor, University of Illinois, Chicago

• James A. Whittaker, PhD, Charles O. Cressey Professor, University of Washington, Seattle

• Benjamin Young, MD, Professor and Director Emeritus, Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence, J. A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai`i at Manoa

• Le`a Kanehe, LLM, LLD, Specialist in Indigenous and Environmental Law, Honolulu, Hawai`i

This first publication of the Le`a Book Series is dedicated to

SALLY LAMPSON KANEHE

whose caring for people, commitment to diversity, and belief in the

potential of all to find meaning and purpose in life

has given the profession of Social Work a unique

opportunity to step forward with equal dedication and

conviction to make a difference.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: WAYFINDER

The Wayfinder concept of a canoe and its skilled paddlers making its journey to explore and find new opportunities for the advancement of the Social Work Profession is an appropriate metaphor for this book: a journey from idea to publication.

It took a strong and stable vessel shaped by dedicated hands to give strength to the craft for the long journey. It took strong and committed paddlers to manage the craft and to move it through the uncharted and challenging waters. It took leadership to navigate and guide and community groups to give support. With the book completed, we look back upon the journey and identify, congratulate and thank those who made it all possible.

The Visionaries: Vice Chancellor Gary A. Ostrander of the Office of Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, Dean Andrew Hashimoto of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Dr. Sylvia Yuen of the Center on the Family, Judith Pyle, President of Judith Dion Pyle and Associates, and Le`a Kanehe, Attorney, all of whom provided the vessel to make the journey.

The Builders: The Department of Health of the State of Hawai`i, SMS Research, the corporation conducting the annual health surveys, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work and the University of Hawai`i Foundation supplied the vessel with support. We acknowledge Dr. Alvin Onaka of the Department of Health; Hersh Singer, Chairman, SMS Research, James Dannemiller, President of SMS Research; Haunani Apoliona, Chair and Trustee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), Clyde Namuo, Executive Director (OHA); Stanton Enomoto, Chief Operating Officer (OHA), and Matthew Lorin, Director of Research and Grants (OHA, currently with Harold W. K. Castle Foundation); Dean Jon Matsuoka, Jocelyn Grassle, Assistant Dean, Marian Turney, Assistant to the Dean, Professor Paula Morelli, Keith Fujikawa, senior budget officer and Sam Kuo, budget officer of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work; and Donna Vuchinich, President of the University of Hawai`i Foundation.

The Finishers: The journey which culminates in the presentation of this book is a reflection of the special talents of the crew which provides the details and the dedication needed to insure success. The investment and dependable support and contributions of the following are worthy of special recognition.

• Justin Hedani, graphic artist University of Hawai`i at Manoa

• Jonah Bond, Publishing Consultant, Xlibris

• Bernadette S. K. Todd, Office of the Dean, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work

The Supporters: There are many important individuals who play a part in supporting the editors so they have the time and opportunity to work on a volume of this nature. Because the editors’ commitment flows from passion and dedication without financial compensation, we take comfort in expressing our appreciation for the unheralded contributions of those whose support and efforts have made this journey a success. In alphabetical order, we thank and extend our warmest aloha and mahalo nui to:

• Russ Walton Benson

• Jannicke Frugaard

• Shi-Jen He

• Orlando Kehl

• William Neil Lampson

• Lehua Matsuoka

• Samoana McAngus

• Marilyn Ann McCubbin, PhD

• Jason Allen Sievers, PhD

• Anela Shimizu

• Vidar Strom

• Anne Thompson, PhD

• Sarah Chui-Wai Yuan

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Julie A. Baldwin, PhD, earned her doctorate in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education in 1991 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She recently joined the faculty at the University of South Florida (USF) in the College of Public Health, Department of Community and Family Health where she teaches courses on health disparities, cultural competence, social and behavioral aspects of public health, program planning and evaluation. She also serves as the Co-P.I. of the Florida Prevention Research Center and coordinates the Mental Health Training Program of the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center. Prior to relocating to USF, Dr. Baldwin was a Professor of Health Promotion at Northern Arizona University, with a joint appointment in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health. She has had funding (as P.I. or Co-P.I.) for ten major, federally-funded grants from CDC, NIAAA, NIDA, NIMH, NCI, and HRSA-AMERSA-SAMHSA/CSAT and several state and local contracts. Her primary research has focused on utilizing community-based participatory approaches to study aspects of HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among American Indian populations, applying psychosocial models of behavioral change to working with active drug users, and evaluating the efficacy of HIV/AIDS prevention programs for youth and families. From 2002-2004 she was awarded an Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship from HRSA-AMERSA-SAMHSA/CSAT to improve health professional education in substance abuse screening, assessment, intervention, and referral practices and has been recognized as a Faculty Scholar of the AMERSA Mainstream Academy. She has also served on several NIH review panels, including the Behavioral and Social Consequences of HIV/AIDS of the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review for a three-year term. As an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she has made a life-long commitment to serving American Indian people and to ensuring that health promotion/disease prevention programs are culturally competent.

Barbara D. DeBaryshe, PhD, (PhD in developmental psychology, 1987, State University of New York at Stony Brook) is a Specialist at the Unversity of Hawai`i Center on the Family. Her research and outreach activities focus on the areas of early childhood education, Asian American/Pacific Islander families, and stress and resilience among children and families living in poverty. She has developed and validated a preschool curriculum that is sensitive to the needs of the multicultural population of Hawai`i, and provides professional development to Head Start teachers and support for parents in implementing the curriculum. She is also collaborating on research projects relating to resiliency in low-income families.

Shirley Foley, MSW, earned her Master of Social Work at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She is currently a PhD student in Social Welfare at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

Xuanning Fu, PhD, is a professor of sociology at the Department of Sociology of California State University, Fresno. Fu’s research areas include family demography and complex organization. He has published one co-authored book and a number of journal articles on inter-racial marriage and divorce, and on meaning of work.

Jan Gryczynski, MA, has focused his research on the social contexts of illicit substance use, prevention, and treatment from various stakeholder perspectives using quantitative and qualitative approaches. His research interests include studying the relationships between social inequities, behavior, and health outcomes. In addition, he is also interested in how macro-level forces and processes shape public policy at various institutional levels. Currently, he is working on a project aimed at preventing substance abuse, HIV, and hepatitis among urban Native Americans. His role on the project includes community service needs research and the evaluation of a prevention intervention targeting at-risk American Indians living in an urban environment.

Rodney C. Haring, DSW, is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians and resides on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York State. He is a licensed master level social worker and obtained his doctoral degree in social welfare from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Social Work. His interests revolve around health disparities, recreational tobacco use, narrative therapy, and research methods with Indigenous Peoples.

Holly Heard, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rice University in Houston, TX. She received a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and a M.A. in Sociology and Demography from Pennsylvania State University. Her areas of specialization include families and children, social demography, life course, adolescence and the transition to adulthood, racial and ethnic inequality, and education. Specifically, her work focuses on two main topics: the impact of family structure and family trajectories on adolescent and young adult well-being; and the patterns and consequences of family relationships for adolescents and adults. A consistent theme throughout her work is an interest in the implications of gender, racial, and ethnic inequality for family structure and process. A current research project, in collaboration with Jenifer Bratter of Rice University, concerns the relationships among the racial composition of families, parental involvement, and adolescent racial identity. The next steps in Dr. Heard’s research agenda will include a focus on the influence of family trajectories on educational trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood. Recently, her work on father involvement and family structure has appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family and the Journal of Family Issues.

Tim B. Heaton, PhD, currently my major research focus has shifted to the relationship between family characteristics on children’s health in Latin America. In addition to analysis of the extensive data provided by the demographic and health surveys, I have helped collect data on mothers with children under age 5 in Bolivia and Colombia. I also continue to be interested in family demographics. Current work focuses on the divorce generation—the cohort married in the late 1960s and 1970s which experienced unprecedented divorce rates. Now half of this cohort has experienced marital disruption. I have also done comparative analysis of intermarriage.

Cardell K. Jacobson, PhD, is Professor of Sociology and a Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor at Brigham Young University where he teaches and does research on social psychology, race and ethnic relations and the sociology of religion. His recent research has been focused on inter-group marriage and Transracial adoption. Recent books include (with John P. Hoffmann and Tim B. Heaton) Revisiting Thomas F. O’Dea’s The Mormons: Contemporary Perspectives (University of Utah Press, 2008) and (with Jeffrey C. Chin) Within the Social World: Essays In Social Psychology (Pearson/ABLongman, 2009).

Jeannette L. Johnson, PhD, is currently a Scientific Review Officer at the National Institutes of Health. In the past she was Professor and Director of the Center for Research on Children and Youth in the School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo, Director of Research in the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, and the Special Assistant to the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Her work focuses on cross-cultural adaptations to risk and resilience and HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention with American Indians. Her research has centered on the effects of substance abuse in individuals, their families, and the communities in which they live. Dr. Johnson has presented workshops for and about children of alcoholics throughout the United States, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. She has studied and worked extensively with indigenous cultures, especially American Indians and Pacific Islanders. During her work in New Zealand with the National Society on Drug Dependence, she was a founding patron of the New Zealand National Association for Children of Alcoholics. She is a contributing editor for several journals and the author and co-author of over a 150 professional publications. She co-edited a book entitled Resilience and Development: Positive Life Adaptations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Vermont. She is a descendent of Hurons located in Drummondville, Quebec.

Lisa Kehl, MSW, is a recent graduate of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She is a Graduate Assistant at the School of Social Work and at University Health Services—Manoa, Health Promotion Program. She is currently working towards her Masters of Public Health, specializing in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences.

Sharon M. Lee, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Rochester, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. She shares her research on social inequalities, race/ethnicity, immigration and immigrant experiences, and diversity and health through publications, presentations at conferences, and invited presentations to groups including the U.S. Congress, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have funded her research. She has served as an adviser to the U.S. Census Bureau, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Richard M. Lee, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and previously taught at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Lee’s research centers on the process and outcome of cultural socialization and its relevance to the development, well-being, and mental health of various Asian American populations, including immigrants, refugees, adoptees, and American-born.

Peter J. Mataira, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Director of Indigenous Affairs at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, University of Hawai`i. He earned his doctorate in social policy and social work from Massey University, Albany campus, Auckland, Aotearoa NZ in 2001. He teaches courses in community organizing, human behaviour in the social environment, and practice with individuals and often guest lectures in areas of indigenous research methodologies and social entrepreneurship. A descendent of Ngatiporou and Kahungunu tribes in Aotearoa, Dr. Mataira has extensive experience working among his people and among Maori and Pacific Island communities in the South Auckland area. Dr. Mataira’s work experience has been as a health specialist, community educator, drug prevention worker and clinical mental health social worker. He was instrumental in helping develop a comprehensive health service plan for his community as a member of a government appointed health transition board. Dr. Mataira’s research experience is in areas of addictions, sustainable social and economic development, program evaluation, indigenous entrepreneurship, and community participatory research. In addition to his regular teaching Dr. Mataira has taught courses in international social work and welfare policy and Brigham Young University-Hawai`i. He continues to work on community evaluation projects in Hawai`i and Aotearoa New Zealand and publishes in areas of indigenous research and practice.

Hamilton McCubbin, PhD, is currently a Professor and the Director of the Center for Training, Evaluation, and Research of the Pacific at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, University of Hawai`i at Manoa (UHM). He was also a faculty member of the Center on the Family at the University (UHM). He served as the Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the Kamehameha Schools (formerly Bishop Estate), as well as Dean of Family Science at Zayed University (United Arab Emirates). He retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he served as the Dean of the School of Human Ecology where he was also a Professor of Child and Family Studies and served as Director of the Center on the Family and the Institute for the Study of Resilience in Families. Along with his roles of author and book editor, he served as editor of the Sage Book series on Resilient Families as well as a member of the editorial boards of ten professional journals. He earned his BS, MS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did post doctoral studies at Yale University, University of Minnesota, and at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Laurie McCubbin, PhD, received her PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her masters degree in mental health counseling from Boston College. She is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology at Washington State University. She is also the Clinical Director of Doctoral Training.

Jonathan Y. Okamura, PhD, is an Associate Professor with the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. He is the author of Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawai`i (2008) and Imagining the Filipino American Diaspora (1998) and co-editor of Asian Settler Colonialism: From Local Governance to the Habits of Everyday Life in Hawai`i (2008).

Yvette V. Perry, PhD, is Program Director for Student Research, Scholarship and Diversity in the Center for Research and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). She received her doctorate from the Department of Family Social Science with a minor in bioethics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and then served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Much of her work during her graduate and post-doctoral programs focused on dynamics in adoptive families characterized by differing levels of birth family contact, psychological adjustment of adolescents adopted internationally from Korea, and links between adoption and assisted reproductive technology. She is currently involved in programming aimed at increasing participation by under-represented undergraduate students in faculty-mentored research projects and at developing multidisciplinary research activities for undergraduates concerning the responsible conduct of research and scholarship. Dr. Perry’s research interests include lay people’s knowledge of and beliefs about genetics, family decision-making about the use of genetic technologies such as disease screening and ancestral tracing using DNA, and the interactions between the environment and genetics in common health conditions.

Laura Rosener Read, PhD, originally from California is currently living in Baltimore, MD. She attended Brigham Young University for both her undergraduate and graduate work. Her sociological interests include race and ethnicity, social change, and social inequality. She is currently a full-time mother to her daughter, Agnes.

Marika Ripke, PhD, was a research scientist and project director at the University of Hawai`i’s Center on the Family at the time this chapter was written. She was the Director of Hawai`i Kids Count, a national and state-by-state initiative funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that tracks the well-being of children and families over time on various health, economic, and educational outcomes. Dr. Ripke received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences, and her M.A. in Child Development and Family Relationships. Her research interests include the impact of poverty, social diversity, middle childhood contexts, and out of school activities on children’s socioemotional and educational outcomes. She has authored several publications, including The Impact of Welfare Reform on the Educational Outcomes of Parents and Children and Poverty: Consequences for Children. She is co-editor of the book, Middle Childhood: A Window of Opportunity.

David W. Rothwell, PhD (PhD, University of Hawai`i at Manoa) is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Social Work at the National University of Singapore.

Ida Strom, MA, earned her MA in Sociology (2008) from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa (UH), and BA in Sociology with a Minor in Psychology (2004) at the University of Bergen, Norway. Areas of interest are sociology of law and social psychology. Currently working as a Junior Researcher at the Center for Training Evaluation and Research of the Pacific at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

Cathy J. Tashiro, PhD, MPH, RN, is on the nursing faculty of the University of Washington Tacoma, where she teaches classes on diversity, community health, aging, and social influences on health. Prior to obtaining her PhD in Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco, she worked as a diversity program analyst and family nurse practitioner, nurse consultant, and women’s clinic nurse manager in several community-based sites. She has done research on dimensions of identity for older people of mixed race and health beliefs, needs, and experiences of people of mixed race, as well as the impact of relocation on residents of a large multiethnic public housing project.

Michael Ungar, PhD, is a University Research Professor and Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. He has conducted workshops internationally on the topic of resilience among at-risk youth and families and has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the topic. He is also the author of nine books including: We Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Children and Teens; Handbook for working with children and youth: Pathways to Resilience across Cultures and Contexts; and Counseling in Challenging Contexts. Currently, as the Director of the Resilience Research Centre, he leads a number of studies of resilience involving researchers from more than a dozen countries on six continents. In addition to his research and teaching, Michael maintains a family therapy practice in association with Phoenix Youth Programs, a prevention program for street youth and their families.

Shelly A. Wiechelt, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, School of Social Work. Dr. Wiechelt has extensive practice experience in both substance abuse and mental health treatment settings. She has conducted research and taught numerous courses and continuing education workshops on evidence based practice, substance abuse, mental health, shame, and trauma.

Emmy E. Werner, PhD, is a Research Professor of Human Development at the University of California at Davis. Trained as a developmental psychologist, she has written widely on risk, resilience, and recovery in children who grew up under adverse conditions. She has conducted longitudinal studies of multi-ethnic children in Hawai`i (on the island of Kaua`i) and on the continental U.S.

Wei Zhang, PhD, is an assistant professor of Sociology at University of Hawai`i at Manoa. Her major areas of expertise include medical sociology and social epidemiology, religion and health, social gerontology, and research methods. She primarily examines social and geographical factors that are related to health and well-being of Asian Americans. She also studies the joint and contingent effects of educational attainment and religious/spiritual practices on mental and physical health among the oldest-old citizens of the People’s Republic of China. She is also co-authoring with Christopher Ellison in several studies on religion and health in the US, with particular attention to negative or maladaptive aspects of religious practice and experience.

EMERGING PARADIGMS AND CONUNDRUMS

OF MULTIETHNICITY: A FOREWORD

HAMILTON I. MCCUBBIN, PH.D.

SENIOR EDITOR

Overview. This book and its contributing scientists address core theoretical, conceptual, developmental, identity, and policy issues surrounding the changing ethnic profile of American families. Guided by the increasing number of cross-cultural adoptions, interracial marriages and the resulting multiethnic families and children, social and behavioral scientists provide both scientific documentation and insights about and into these emerging family systems, their dynamics, challenges and interactions with society and in so doing legitimate this line of scientific inquiry. Their work, organized and presented in a coherent form, sets the stage for the advancement of theory, research, public policy and practice in pursuit of understanding and addressing their needs.

The statistics on multiethnic marriages, families and children presented here are striking and cannot be ignored. They cast a spotlight upon this emerging profile of families in the United States, if not the world, and in so doing increase the demand for more knowledge about the trials and tribulations of such families, their vicissitudes, strengths, capabilities and influence upon public policy. The introductory chapter by Lee (Chapter 1) reveals trends in interracial marriage, families, and racial identities of interracial children. Main findings center on the increased intermarriage between 1970 and 2000 with mention of the higher intermarriage rates in Hawai`i, and notation of the salient shift to multiple races reported in 2000 on intermarriage and racial identities between 1990 and 2000. At the national level, the number of children in interracial marriages has increased from 1.5 percent in 2000 to 6.4 percent in 2000. Hawai`i, with its higher proportion of multiracial families grew from 16 percent in 1970 to over 31 percent in 2000. As to the impact of interracial marriages, Lee concluded that intermarriage was an equalizer. Interracial couple families generally have higher incomes than their endogamous minority couple counterparts. Lee’s analysis of the US Census data is offered as evidence that interracial marriages play an important part in reducing the gaps in family incomes and improving family socioeconomic status. The multiracial movement, established on the basis of multiethnic trends, is offered as hope for the future of our nation. Racially mixed persons have the role and responsibility to defy the social order predicated on government based racial categories. Another claim counters this positive outlook with the realization that multiethnic classifications may create another racial and ethnic category an issue to attract political resistance and conflict among ethnic groups.

From a sociological and public policy perspective, Okamura (Chapter 2) challenged the validity of two principal claims advanced by advocates of multiracial persons and families. This multiracial condition, if you will, is viewed as the basis for overcoming racism in the United States! Okamura expressed caution. Racial equality, he pointed out, did not prevail in Hawai`i and thus Hawai`i’s representation as a multicultural model for other racially and ethnically divided societies is without a solid foundation. On the other hand, Okamura notes that: there is evidence to support the role of interracial marriage as an equalizer. Interracial couple families generally have higher incomes than their endogamous minority couple counter-parts.

The emergence of multiethnic individuals and family systems also creates new challenges for the health care system and professionals involved. Both Tashiro (Chapter 3) and McCubbin, Strom, McCubbin, Zhang, Kehl, Foley, Mataira and Rothwell (Chapter 4) present challenges to the traditional methods of examining racial health disparities. Gross comparisons of racial groups (e.g. Hawaiians versus Caucasians versus Asians) have been the benchmarks for comparisons. With the opportunity to compare multiethnic subgroups (e.g. Hawaiian-Japanese and Hawaiian-Caucasians) on the basis of combination of ethnic predispositions and vulnerabilities, the gross comparison methods may be insufficient in isolating who among the Hawaiians (who are 98% multiethnic) are at risk and overrepresented on different health risks. The challenges from the multiethnic scientists are significant when we consider the genetic make up of the individuals and weigh in on the social determinants of health, which may flow for multiple cultures and social contexts the behavioral research of these complex populations. McCubbin et al carry the argument to another level by examining whether multiethnic mixes of Hawaiians (Hawaiian-Chinese, Hawaiian-Chinese, etc.) with other ethnic groups reveal significant health disparities indicating that the ethnic mix is one of the determining factors of health and well being.

When family systems and children are included in the analysis of multiethnic families, the conceptualization, research strategy, mate selection, dating, socialization, parenting practices, ethnic orientation, identity formation, family schema, coping, appraisal, adaptation, measurement, and intervention issues are magnified.

Five chapters are devoted to these issues. Tashiro (Chapter 3) underscores the importance of examining stressors, protective and risk-enhancing factors, identity, health risks, ancestry, social and peer influences as part of health care research involving multiethnic individuals and families. DeBaryshe, Ripke and Rodriguez Stern (Chapter 5) penetrate the boundaries of family systems by describing the unique strengths and resilience of the multiethnic system. They inquire whether multiethnic and monoethnic families differ on strengths and life satisfaction and cultural trauma. In Chapter 11, McCubbin, L. studied Native Hawaiians and focuses also on comparing monoethnic and multiethnic families. In so doing, the author consolidated and applied a conceptual model of resilience while using standardized and psychometrically sound measures of historical trauma, family schema and hardiness to test for differences on risk, protective and recovery factors.

It is inevitable and desirable that the matter of parent-child interaction and the socialization of children would emerge as important themes for multiethnic research. Bratter and Heard (Chapter 7) brought this issue to center stage in examining the development of adolescents. Focusing on ethnic and multiethnic identity and drawing from research on role modeling, direct socialization and the construction of children’s social environment as vehicles for identity formation, the authors affirm the importance of parental socialization. Race socialization in multiethnic families became the focal point for the work of Jacobson and Rosener (Chapter 6). Building a case in the study of discrimination as a form of emotional work, authors examine the hypothesis that racial socialization steels children against anticipated discrimination. Families from New York and Chicago participated in the study and scientists found the experiences these children may have to face might serve to prepare them for future hardships. Children of ethnic origins who are adopted into a multiethnic family unit became the focus of Lee and Perry (Chapter 9). The authors stage their analysis and findings by citing a three-fold increase in international adoptions over the past 15 years. They then focused on perceived discrimination and racial discomfort and tested the protective factor of ethnic identity. Among the range of important findings, the authors call attention to the more negative outcomes for the Asian adoptions, which appear to be a function of perceived discrimination that occurred post-placement.

The family system, with its functional and developmental tasks, has been examined in the context of multiethnic systems. Fu and Heaton (Chapter 8) focus on family socioeconomic well being highlighted by findings of higher per Capita income associated with multiethnic families with a low-status. In contrast, high per Capita income was associated with monoethnic families with high social status. Family ethnic identity was the key consideration in explaining the variability in family well being. Nayani (Chapter 10) studied ethnic identity in multiethnic Filipino Americans in Hawai`i. The salience of ethnic identity was only partially supported: on one hand being multiethnic provided individuals the flexibility to choose identities in particular social contexts. On the other hand, being of mixed ethnicities as a risk factor for the fit or acceptance with other ethnic groups such as the full Filipinos was not assured.

Resilience and family resilience theory have been emphasized in the work of DeBaryshe et al (Chapter 5), McCubbin (Chapter 11), Ungar (Chapter 13) and Johnson, Baldwin, Gryczynski, Wiechelt