8 Potential Issues for Biracial and Multiracial Youth

Talking about mental health in connection with race is a controversial topic, it is more complicated and unnerving for biracial and multiracial youth to solve mental health problems including isolation, struggling with racial identities and racial discrimination. Mental health problems could happen for many reasons, contradictory expectations of people to them due to the colour of their skin or other features. As a result of the small population and lack of knowledge diffusion, biracial and multiracial youth need more attention and care from societies and people with different identities through their growth. Whether you come from a mixed-race community or you know someone else is struggling with their identity, this list is prepared for you as support so that you can prevent loneliness and rejections anymore.

1. Identity conflict

Biracial and multiracial people usually switch between identifying themselves with one or more races. Lawyer Natasha Sim, who is a mixed-race person of American and Chinese that works in Washington D.C., explains that “my identity is ever-changing, and people with mixed-race heritage describe their experiences as ‘schizophrenic’. The further aggravates the fact is that they did not have the chance to choose which box they fall into. This identity conflict may cause lifelong psychological consequences, including lower self-esteem, poor performance and lack of motivation.

2. Racial discrimination

According to the human rights government in Australia, racial discrimination happens when a person is treated less approvingly, or not obtain the same chance as others in a similar situation. The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person due to the race colour, descent, nation or ethnic origin or immigration status. Mikka Macdonald, a writer of Racism and Anti-Blackness, mentioned that racism is deeply ingrained in our culture that people often do not even give biracial and multiracial people opportunities to choose how they want to be identified and seen in the word. If they are not sufficient for their heritage, they may experience some racial discrimination because they do not look similar enough or act similar enough to other races.

when life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade.

3. Social Isolation

Because the mixed-race people are still a minority of the whole population, they have a hard time finding a sense of belonging in society. Not having any protections from a specific community or group can make them feel insecure, which could lead to social isolation. People with the mixed-race background are generally from the same group as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people. This group of people may experience limitations and exclusion to assimilate into local society and find groups with the same attributes as themselves, they are eager to be understood but fear that their different racial heritage will be rejected.

4. Depression

“The most common explanation for the high-risk status is the difficulty with forming their own identity, leading to lack of self-esteem, social isolation, and mixed-race family’s dynamics problems,” demonstrated by Udry, a professor of maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. People who consider themselves as one of the biracial and multiracial community are more likely to feel depressed, such as skipping school, having trouble sleeping, smoke and drink alcohol.

5. The lack of collective consciousness

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of transcendental meditation, explains that the atmosphere of the collective consciousness affects individual thinking and behaviour. Due to the limited number of the biracial and multiracial people, they did not have a defined group to lead them. They are often influenced by families to determine which part of the culture they will accept. If one of the parents is dominant in this family, the children will be more affected by this culture. Besides, they tend to be more self-centred and lack of collective consciousness.

6. Socialisation

Song & Neill Gutierrez, authors of mixed-race parents and the socialisation of their children demonstrated that parents expect to socialise their children through natural interactions instead of strict cultural expectations. The lack of social interaction tends to make biracial and multiracial children autistic, and they have no one to communicate about their experiences, which is the reason why most of the mixed-race children are introverted marginalised in some way.

7. The lack of support in the early stage

Due to the particularity of identity, biracial and multiracial children need more support in their early stage. Teachers need to be enough trained to deal with children’s emotional needs. Ameneh Shahaelan, a fellow in early childhood education and care, gives an example of different cultures have different priorities. In eastern culture, parents often encourage their children to keep quiet and do not argue with people who are older than them. While in western culture, these traits are generally considered to be shy and not so highly values. If the teachers and schools are not aware that they are not ready to accept and understand social and cultural diversity, the mixed-race children’s behaviours can easily be misunderstood.

8. The misunderstanding from social media

As Jaya Saxena, the creator of the hashtag # #ThisIsWhatBiracialLooksLike mentioned that others usually make this choice. Regardless of how complicated the identity, they should realise that they are the one who chooses their identity instead of society. The hashtag from social media leads a trend to define people by their appearances instead of nationalities and identities from their perspectives. Experiences of being forced to choose one specific identity may lead them to a feeling of isolation and identity conflict. If they receive different categorisation between themselves and societies, the misunderstanding from social media could effectively threats their mental health.