Adoptive Parents’ Racial Colorblindness and Adopted Korean Adolescents’ Experiences of Discrimination

Objectives: Using longitudinal data, this study investigated the association between parent racial colorblindness and discrimination toward children (reported by both parents and adolescents) in transracial, transnational adoptive families. Method: EightyWhite adoptive parents with adopted Korean children (ages 5–12 years old) were surveyed in 2007 (Time 1 [T1]), and both parents and adolescents (ages 13–19 years old) were surveyed in 2014 (Time 2 [T2]). Parents completed a self-report measure of parent racial colorblindness toward their child at T1 and T2, and parents and adolescents completed a measure of discrimination experienced by adoptees at T2. Results: Parent reports of racial colorblindness toward their child were not significantly different between T1 and T2. However, parent reports of discrimination increased between time points. Further, parent and adolescent reports of discrimination were not significantly different from one another. Using hierarchical regression models, racial colorblindness among parents at T1 (when children were in middle childhood) was significantly associated with parent reports of discrimination experienced by adolescent children at T2, even when controlling for T2 racial colorblindness. This association did not hold for adolescent reports of discrimination. Conclusion: Adoptive parents’ acknowledgment of their children’s race and ethnicity appears relatively stable from childhood into adolescence, and parent racial colorblindness toward their own child can affect their ability to recognize discrimination during adolescent development, a vital period when discrimination becomes more common and salient.