Skin color in relation to self-esteem and self-perceived physical, sexual, and global attractiveness was examinedfor a sample of9J African Americans. Based on marketplace theory and prior research, interactions of sex and skin tone were hypothesized. Fair-skinnedfemales were expected to have higherself-esteem and self-ratings of attractiveness than dark-skinned females. Dark-skinned males' ratings were expected to be higher or not different from those of fair-skinned males. Results obtainedpartially supported the hypotheses. Dark-skinned males' self-ratings of sexual attractiveness were higher, whereasfemales'ratings did not difer No significant effects occurred for other types of attractiveness or selfesteem. Results are discussed in terms of marketplace theory, stereotyping, and the exclusion of males from measures/changes designed to address skin-color biases in the Black community and society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, B. P.
, & Wroble, S. (1975). Attractive people like themselves better than unattractive people-Most of the time: Self-descriptions employing the AGT. Paper presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Convention.
2.
Azibo, D.
(1983). Perceived attractiveness and the Black personality. Western Journal of Black Studies, 7, 229-238.
3.
Bagley, C.
, & Young, L. (1988). Evaluation of color and ethnicity in young children in Jamaica, Ghana, England, and Canada. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 12, 45-60.
4.
Banks, W. C.
(1976). White preference in Blacks: A paradigm in search of a phenomenon. Psychological Bulletin, 83, 1179-1186.
5.
Banks, W. C.
, McQuater, G. V., & Ross, J. A. (1979). On the importance of White preference and the comparative difference of Blacks and others: Reply to Williams and Morland. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 33-36.
6.
Bar-Tal, D.
, & Saxe, L. (1976). Perceptions of similarly and dissimilarly attractive couples and individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 772-781.
7.
Blau, P. M.
(1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
8.
Brent, E. E.
, Mirielli, E. J., & Thompson, A. (1993). EX-SAMPLE: An expert system for determining sample size (Version 3) [Computer software]. Columbia, MO: Idea Works.
9.
Buss, D. M.
, & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1-49.
10.
Chambers, J.
, Clark, T., Dantzler, L., & Baldwin, J. (1994). Perceived attractiveness, facial features and African self-consciousness. Journal of Black Psychology, 20, 305-324.
11.
Clark, K.
, & Clark, M. (1939a). The development of consciousness of self and the emergence of racial identification in Negro preschool children. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 591-591.
12.
Clark, K.
, & Clark, M. (1939b). Segregation as a factor in the racial identification of Negro preschool children: A preliminary report. Journal of Experimental Education, 8, 161-161.
13.
Clark, K.
, & Clark, M. (1947). Racial identification and preference in Negro children. In T. Newcombe & E. C. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in social psychology (pp. 159-169). New York: Holt.
14.
Clark, K. B.
, & Clark, M. P. (1980). What do Blacks think of themselves?Ebony, 11, 176-182.
15.
Cohen, J.
(1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (rev. ed.). New York: Academic Press.
16.
Cohen, J.
(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
Cunningham, M. R.
, Roberts, A. R., Barbee, A. P., Druen, P. B., & Wu, C.-H. (1995). "Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole the same as ours": Consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 261-279.
18.
Davis, A.
, Gardner, B. R., & Gardner, M. R. (1941). Deep South. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
19.
Dollard, J.
(1957). Caste and class in southern town. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
20.
Drake, S. C.
, & Cayton, H. (1945). Black metropolis. New York: Harcourt Brace.
21.
Drake, S. C.
, & Cayton, H. (1962). The measure of a man. In S. C. Drake & H. Cayton (Eds.), Black metropolis: A study of Negro life in a northern city (Vol. 2, pp. 495-525). New York: Harper.
22.
Eagly, A.
, Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but...: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109-128.
23.
Edwards, J. N.
(1969). Familial behavior as social exchange. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 31, 518-526.
24.
Edwards, O. L.
(1972). Skin color as a variable in the racial attitudes of Black urbanites. Journal of Black Studies, 3, 433-454.
25.
Elder, G.
(1969). Appearance and education in marriage mobility. American Sociological Review, 34, 519-533.
26.
Feingold, A.
(1990). Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 981-993.
27.
Felson, B. R.
(1985). Reflected appraisal and the development of self. Social Psychology Quarterly, 48, 71-78.
28.
Fine, M.
, & Bowers, C. (1984). Racial self-identification: The effects of social history and gender. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 136-146.
29.
Franklin, J. H.
(1980). From slavery to freedom (5th ed.). New York: Knopf.
30.
Frazier, E. F.
(1957). The Negro in the United States. New York: Macmillan.
31.
Freund, R. J.
, Littel, R. C., & Spector, P. C. (1986). SAS system for linear models. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
32.
Goodman, M. E.
(1952). Race awareness in young children. Cambridge MA: Addison-Wesley.
33.
Gray, S.
(1944). The wishes of Negro school children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 64, 225-237.
34.
Hall, R. E.
(1992). Bias among African-Americans regarding skin color: Implications for social work practice. Research on Social Work Practice, 2, 479-486.
35.
Henik, A.
, Munitz, S., & Priel, B. (1985). Color, skin color preferences and self color identification among Ethiopian-and Israeli-born children. Israeli Social Science Research, 3, 74-84.
36.
Homans, G. C.
(1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt Brace & World.
37.
Hughes, M.
, & Hertel, B. R. (1990). The significance of color remains: A study of life chances, mate selection, and ethnic consciousness among Black Americans. Social Forces, 68, 1105-1120.
38.
Johnson, C. S.
(1941). Growing up in the Black belt: Negro youth in the rural South. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
39.
Keith, V. M.
, & Herring, C. (1991). Skin tone and stratification in the Black community. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 760-778.
40.
Kovel, J.
(1971). White racism: A psychohistory. New York: Random House.
41.
Landry, B.
(1987). The new Black middle class. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
42.
Littig, L. W.
, Allen, J., & Briggs, Y. M. (1980). Locus of control, historical context, and Black physical self-perception. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 40-48.
43.
Morland, J. K.
(1962). Racial acceptance and preference of nursery school children in a southern city. Merrill Palmer Quarterly of Behavior and Development, 8, 271-280.
44.
Murstein, B. I.
, Merighi, J. R., & Malloy, T. E. (1989). Physical attractiveness and exchange theory in interracial dating. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 325-334.
45.
Myrdal, G.
(1944). An American dilemma. New York: Harper & Row.
46.
Neal, A. M.
, & Wilson, M. L. (1989). The role of skin color and features in the Black community: Implications for Black women and therapy. Clinical Psychology Review, 9, 323-333.
47.
Parrish, C. (1944). The significance of color in the Negro community. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago.
48.
Powell-Hopson, D.
, & Hopson, D. (1988). Implications of doll color preferences among Black preschool children and White preschool children. Journal of Black Psychology, 14, 57-63.
49.
Reuter, E. B.
(1918). The mulatto in the United States. New York: Negro Universities Press.
50.
Riggs, M.
(Producer/Director). (1986). Ethnic notions [Film]. San Francisco: California Newsreel.
51.
Rosenberg, F. R.
, & Simmons, R. G. (1975). Sex differences in the self-concept in adolescence. Sex Roles, 1, 147-159.
52.
Rosenberg, M.
(1965). Society and adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
53.
Rosenberg, M.
(1989). Old myths die hard: The case of Black self-esteem. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 2, 355-365.
54.
Russell, K.
, Wilson, M., & Hall, R. (1993). The color complex: The politics of skin color among African Americans. New York: Harcourt Brace Janovich.
55.
Sandler, K.
(Producer/Director). (1992). A question of color [Film]. San Francisco: California Newsreel.
56.
SAS Instifute, Inc.
(1988). SAS/STATusers guide, release 6.03 edition. Cary, NC: Author.
57.
Schulman, G. I.
(1974). Race, sex and violence? A laboratory test of the sexual threat of the Black male hypothesis. American Journal of Sociology, 79, 1260-1277.
58.
Sigall, H.
, & Landy, D. (1973). Radiating beauty: Effects of having a physically attractive partner on person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293-307.
59.
Singh, D.
(1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist to hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293-307.
60.
Smith, L.
, Burlew, A., & Lundgren, D. (1991). Black consciousness, self-esteem, and satisfaction with physical appearance among African-American female college students. Journal of Black Studies, 20, 62-74.
61.
Tashakkori, A.
, & Thompson, V. (1989). Gender, self-perception, and self-devaluation in depression: A factor analytic study among Iranian college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 341-354.
62.
Tashakkori, A.
, Thompson, V., Wade, J., & Valente, E. (1990). Structure and stability of self-esteem in late teens. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 885-893.
63.
Thibaut, J. W.
, & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The social psychology of groups. New York: Wiley.
64.
Udry, J. R.
(1977). The importance of being beautiful: A reexamination and racial comparison. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 154-160.
65.
Udry, J. R.
, Bauman, K. E., & Chase, C. (1971). Skin color, status, and mate selection. American Journal of Sociology, 76, 722-733.
66.
Wade, T. J.
(1991a). Marketplace economy: The evaluation of interracial couples. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 12, 405-422.
67.
Wade, T. J.
(1991b). Race and sex difference in adolescent self-perceptions of physical attractiveness and level of self-esteem during early and late adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1319-1324.
68.
Wade, T. J.
(1993, July). Sex differences in the relationships between self-perceivedphysical and sexual attractiveness, self-esteem and body esteem. Paper presented at the Sixth Biennial Conference of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Baltimore, MD.
69.
Wade, T. J. (1996). Sociobiology and self-perception: Sex differences in body esteem predictors of physical and sexual attractiveness and self-esteem. Manuscript submitted for publication.
70.
Wade, T. J.
(in press). Race and evolutionary theory: Differences in models of self-perceived physical attractiveness for Blacks and Whites. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
71.
Wade, T. J.
, Thompson, V., Tashakkori, A., & Valente, E. (1989). A longitudinal analysis of sex by race differences in predictors of adolescent self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 717-729.
72.
White, J. L.
(1984). The psychology of Blacks: An African American perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
