The Journal of Early Adolescence, Ahead of Print.
This special issue highlights biracial/multiracial/multiethnic early adolescents as a fast-growing demographic warranting greater inclusion in developmental research. We address several likely barriers to inclusion related to the conceptualization and measurement of biracial/multiracial/multiethnic status and offer recommendations for including Multiracial youth that are informed by the research questions of interest. With a diverse sample of 610 early adolescents (11% Multiracial), we explore Multiracial youths’ racial/ethnic homophily in their best friendship. Multiracial youth were less likely to perceive a racial/ethnic match and less likely to objectively match (i.e., their best friend also self-reported being multiracial) compared to their monoracial counterparts. Multiracial youth perceived a racial/ethnic match with their best friend when they and their best friend both reported the exact same monoracial backgrounds. They were less likely to perceive a match when there was only a partial (i.e., one background overlapped) or no objective match. Practical recommendations are provided for future research.