What's Color Got To Do With It? Skin Color, Skin Color Satisfaction, Racial Identity, and Internalized Racism Among African American College Students. (October 2015) - Maxwell, Morgan
Although skins tone perceptions influence the African American community, less is known about how skin color satisfaction differs across complexion. Employing an intersectionality framework, the current study assessed (a) the relationships between gender, self-reported skin color, skin color satisfaction, and the private regard aspect of racial identity; (b) whether skin color satisfaction moderates the relationship between perceived skin color and racial identity; and (c) whether internalized racism relates to skin color satisfaction. African American college students ( N = 191) provided their perceived skin color and completed the private regard subscale of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, the Nadanolitization Scale, and an abbreviated version of the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test most hypotheses. Although skin color was not significantly associated with skin color satisfaction, skin color satisfaction moderated the relationship between perceived skin color and private regard. Darker skin African Americans high in skin color satisfaction reported higher private regard than those low in skin color satisfaction. Additionally, internalized racism significantly predicted skin color satisfaction. Psychosociological implications are discussed.