Black Beauty: Skin Color and Body Images among African- American College Women’

SELENA BOND AND THOMAS F. CASH2 Old Dominion University

Skin color has played an historically influential role in the lives of African Ameri- cans. The present study examined the role of skin color (i.e., its lightness-darkness) as it pertained to various body-image measures among 66 light-, medium-, and dark- skinned Black college females. A Skin Color Assessment Procedure was developed to assess various perceptual dimensions of skin color. Although subjects were generally satisfied with their skin tone, the idealization of lightness was apparent in several respects. Those who desired a different skin tone favored being lighter more than being darker. Unlike light- and dark-skinned Black females, medium-toned Black females’ held personal ideals that were significantly lighter than their self-perceived color. The majority of subjects believed that Black men found light skin most attractive. Although actual skin color did not predict various facets of body image satisfaction, skin color satisfaction was positively related to satisfaction with overall appearance and with the face. Future research should address the possible mediating role of racial identity vis-a-vis the effects of skin color and racial physiognomy on body image.

Black history provides considerable evidence that the skin color or skin tone of African Americans has exerted powerful and persistent influences on societal attitudes toward and treatment of Black persons-within both White and Black cultures (for a recent review see Neal & Wilson, 1989; see also Gatewood, 1988; Crier & Cobb, 1968; Hughes & Hertel, 1990; Jackson, 1979; Okazawa-Rey, Robinson, & Ward, 1986). Particularly after the abolition of slavery, skin color influenced the lives of Black Americans in terms of status acquisition (Okazawa-Rey et al., 1986). Reuter (19 17), for example, notes that of the first 12 Black men who received Ph.D. degrees from U.S. universities, all but one was of interracial parentage.

Early in this century, the more affluent African Americans organized clubs, so-called “blue vein” societies. Among the prerequisites for membership were certain Caucasoid physiognomic criteria (Okazawa-Rey et al., 1986). For example, skin tone was required to be lighter than a “paper bag” or light enough for visibility of “blue veins.” The “comb test” for “good hair” required that hair texture be straight enough to pass easily through an ordinary comb.

‘The authors are grateful to Cliff Rucker and Karen Boyd fortheir assistance in data collection and to Janis Sanchez-Hucles, Jay Robinson, and Christopher Huffine for their valuable substan- tive contributions.

’Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas F. Cash, Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529-0267.

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Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1992,22, 11, pp. 874-888. Copyright @ 1992 by V. H. Winston & Son, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Preferential treatment given by both Black and White cultures to African Americans with light skin and other Caucasoid attributes has conveyed to many Blacks that the more they physically conformed to the White, majority standard of beauty, the more rewarding their lives would be (Gatewood, 1988).

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, many Black Americans celebrated cultural pride that “Black is beautiful.” However, this new racial awareness seems to have brought little change in the traditionally ingrained values of beauty still perceived by many Black Americans (Grier & Cobb, 1968; Hughes & Hertel, 1990; Neal & Wilson, 1989). Indeed, black skin per se was not generally perceived as beautiful. Though a light complexion became less uniformly desirable, dark skin remained undesirable (Goering, 1971; Okazawa-Rey et al., 1986), and brown was the hue desired by many Black Americans in the 1960s (Goering, 1971; Martin, 1964). Yet in mate selection, light-skinned Black females were still preferred over their darker counter- parts; and darker females of lower socioeconomic status were less likely than their lighter counterparts to marry Black men of higher status (Goering, 1971; Udry, 1977; Udry, Bauman, & Chase, 1971).

Even today, the significance of skin color is evident in the mixed messages received by many Black Americans. As Blacks are taught to be proud of their skin color, many Blacks remain “color struck”; that is, they differentially attend and respond to shades of Black skin (Clark & Clark, 1980; Neal, 1988; Neal & Wilson, 1989). Such conflicting messages foster ambivalence about Caucasoid attributes among Blacks (e.g., Cross, 1990; Milloy, 1983; Pous- saint, 1975)-akin to the mixed, admiration-resentment disposition many people feel toward beauty in general (Cash, 1990; Cash & Duncan, 1984; Cash & Janda, 1984).

Given such a long history of the salience of racial physiognomy in our society, the implications of skin color for self-concept development has received substantial scientific scrutiny (Smith, 1979). From the finding of classic research by Clark and Clark ( 1947) that Black children preferred white dolls over black dolls, poor self-acceptance among Black children was inferred. Moreover, leading to interpretations of a more negative self-concept among dark-skinned than light-skinned Blacks, Gitter, Mostofsky, and Satow (1972) found that darker Black children misidentified their skin color more often than their lighter peers. However, recent researchdoes not support such sweeping conclusions of Black self-hatred, and the early studies have been strongly criticized on methodological and conceptual grounds (Baldwin, 1979; Banks, 1976; Brand, Ruiz, & Padilla, 1974). In 1973, Holtzman found that Black college students with a medium skin tone reported a stronger sense of self-efficacy than either light- or dark-skinned students.

In view of the affect-laden meanings attached to skin color and racial

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physiognomy, surprisingly little research has directly examined these factors in specific relation to body image among African Americans. Body image is a multidimensional construct composed of perceptual and attitudinal aspects (Cash & Brown, 1987; Cash & Pruzinsky, 1990). Perceptual body image pertains to the accuracy or distortion of self-perceptions of body attributes and the discrepancy between self-perceived and idealized attributes. Attitudi- nal body image consists of cognitive, affective, and behavioral components, including the assessment of overall body satisfaction as well as satisfaction with specific physical attributes (e.g., Cash, 1989, 1990; Keeton, Cash, & Brown, 1990; Thompson, Penner, & Altabe, 1990).

Among the conceptual frameworks concerning the development of body- image dissatisfaction and its influence on other aspects of self-concept and adjustment, Thompson (1990) has pointed to two well-supported theories. Sociocultural theory emphasizes the acquisition of values and standards of “beauty” as a result of societal indoctrination. Then, to the extent that these sociocultural standards are personally internalized, self-ideal discrepancy theory posits that cognitive self-evaluation (here, physical self-evaluation) and associated affect (here, body-image affect) will reflect the magnitude of the discrepancies between self-perceived attributes and these internalized ideals.

The few studies that have examined body-image perceptions and attitudes among African Americans suggest that, relative to Whites, they report more favorable attitudes toward their overall appearance-largely, it seems, as the result of less concern with fatness (e.g., Gray, 1977; Huffine & Cash, 1991; Rosen & Gross, 1987; Rucker & Cash, in press). However, research conducted on skin color as it pertains to African Americans’ body-image percepts and attitudes is lacking. One study that did find a darker complexion to be related to less body-image satisfaction was conducted with Jamaican adolescents (Miller, 1969).

The present study was designed to examine multiple parameters of body image among African Americans who objectively differ in skin tone. Per- ceptually, self-appraised skin color, personal skin-color ideals, and assump- tions about opposite sex skin-color preferences were assessed. Attitudinally, subjects’ focal feelings about their skin color, their face, and their global evaluations of their overall appearance were measured. In view of the above evidence, we expected to observe greater idealization of lightness than dark- ness, with more deleterious consequences on the body-image attitudes of darker than lighter skinned Blacks. Because body-image emphasis and con- cern are somewhat more salient for women, especially younger women, than for men (Cash & Brown, 1989; Cash, Winstead, & Janda, 1986; Cash & Pruzinsky, 1990; Freedman, 1986), this initial study of skin color and body image focused on Black women. Historically, skin-color assessment has re- lied on various procedures (see Guthrie, 1976). Because we believe that the

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common research practice of using only two or three black skin color tones (e.g., Gitter et al., 1972; Neal, 1988) is inadequate, this research involved the development and validation of a more precise procedure to assess skin-color perceptions and preferences among Blacks.

Method

Subjects

Subjects were 66 female, African-American undergraduates a t a southeast- ern, urban university. Subjects ranged from 18 to 37 years of age ( M = 21.7, S D = 4.1) and were given research credit for voluntary participation in a study of “attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of African Americans.”

Materials and Procedure

Three African Americans (two females and one male) served as experi- menters. After a n informed consent procedure, subjects completed the 69- item, Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Brown, Cash, & Mikulka, 1990; Cash, 1989; Cash et a]., 1986). The MBSRQ is a well-established inventory that assesses attitudinal aspects of body image and is comprised of several internally consistent subscales (Brown et al., 1990; Cash, 1989). Pertinent to the present study are two selected subscales: (a) the Appearance Evaluation scale (7 items), assessing subjects’affective evaluation of their overall appearance (Cronbach’s alpha = .91); and (b) the Body Areas Satisfaction Scale (BASS) item for facial satisfaction.

Next, three skin-color items were administered as the Skin Color Question- naire (SCQ). The first SCQ item was: “How satisfied are you with the shade (lightness or darkness) of your own skin color?” Response alternatives ranged from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 9 (extremely satisfied). The second item was: “Compared to most African-American people, I believe my skin color is. . . .” Responses ranged from 1 (extremely light) to 9 (extremely dark). The last item asked: “If I could change my skin color, I would make it. . . .”Responses again ranged from 1 (much lighter) to 9 (much darker), with 5 anchored as “exactly the same.” Thus, the three SCQ items were designed to assess, respectively, skin color satisfaction, self-perceived skin color (light-dark), and ideal skin color.

A set of 4-in X 4-in color squares of nine “b1ack”skin colors were adminis- tered in several specific, instructional contexts. The researchers selected the color tones from a standardized color system (Pantone Matching System, PMS) (see Gitter et al., 1972). The P M S catalogs hundreds of colors and hues used as a standard in the printing industry. The skin colors ranging from 1

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(very light, cream colored) to 9 (very dark, ebony) were as follows: PMS #4685, PMS #155, PMS #466, PMS #1385, PMS #145, PMS #471, PMS #168, PMS #469, and PMS #462. Our previous pilot research with African- American subjects had established the highly reliable, light-to-dark, ordinal- ity of these tones.

The nine skin color squares were administered as the “Skin Color Assess- ment Procedure” (SCAP) in the following manner: The squares were ran- domly positioned on a numbered color wheel on an off-white, 20-in X 30-in poster board. Individual subjects first were asked to choose the color that most resembled their actual facial skin color. Next, they went to an adjacent room, viewed another color wheel, and chose the facial skin color they would most prefer to have. Finally, in a third room and on another color wheel, subjects picked the color they believed their opposite-sex African-American peers find most attractive. Subjects’choices were always made at a distance of 2 ft from the color wheel, without their touching the colors for direct compari- son with the skin. Each wheel presented the colors in a different random order. Subjects were alone when responding; they deposited their coded rating forms in a box in each room.

Before debriefing, subjects were told that experimenters’ judgmental ac- curacy was being tested. Using a hand-held color palette of the nine colors, two experimenters independently rated each subject’s facial skin color at a cosmetics-free site on the lower mid-cheek approximately 1 in above the jaw line.

Subjects’ SCAP ratings permitted the calculation of self-ideal discrepancy scores by subtracting the ideal from the self-perceived skin color ratings for each subject. Comparison between the actual (judges’) and the subjects’ self-perceived scores yielded a distortion score by subtracting self-ratings from the judges’ mean color ratings. Both the discrepancy and distortion indices were also calculated as absolute values to reflect the unsigned differ- ence scores.

Results

Reliabilities and Concurrent Validities of Skin-Color Ratings

The acceptable inter-rater reliability of the judges’ 9-point ratings of sub- jects’skin color was indicated by a reliability coefficient of .90. More specifi- cally, 42% of the subjects received identical skin color ratings by the two judges, 80% of the judges’ ratings were consistent within 1 scale point, and 91% were within 2 points. Thus, only 9% (n = 6) of the subjects received a rating difference of 3 or more scale values. For all subsequent analyses where the means of the two judges’ ratings were used to objectively define subjects’

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actual skin color, the six subjects who were unreliably rated were deleted from analysis.

In addition to judges’ratings of subjects’skin color, the subjects rated their own skin color on two scales: (a) the SCAP self-rating (i.e., the chosen one of the nine color squares); and (b) the 9-point SCQ self-rating of lightness- darkness “relative to most African-American people.” Pearson correlations (df = 58) were calculated to examine the convergence among these three skin-color indices. Mean judges’ ratings correlated well with subjects’ SCQ light-dark self-ratings ( r = .74,p< .001) and with their SCAP self-ratings ( r = .66,p < .001). The two self-ratings correlated significantly also ( r = .63,p < .001). Thus, the levels of congruence among the two self-ratings and the judges’ ratings reflect the concurrent validity of these indices of skin color. Where subjects’self-appraisals did differ from judges’ratings, the direction of the difference was as likely to be lighter as to be darker ( p > .25).

Assessments of discrepancy from personal skin-color ideals included the self-ideal discrepancy index of the SCAP (scored darker to lighter) and the 9-point SCQ rating of desire to change one’s skin tone (scaled lighter to darker). These two measures converged significantly ( r = -.57, p < .001).

Actual, Sev- Perceived, and Idealized Skin Colors

The first hypothesis was that, especially for darker skinned subjects, per- sonal skin-color ideals and perceived opposite-sex ideal ratings would be lighter than self-appraised color ratings. Subjects were divided into three groups based on judges’ratings of skin color: light (skin-color ratings ranging from I to 3), medium (ratings from 3.5 to 6.5), and dark (ratings greater than or equal to 7). Respectively, these groups consisted of 20, 18, and 20 subjects who were without any missing data.

A 3 (skin-color groups) X 3 (SCAP self, personal ideal, and perceived opposite-sex ideal) analysis of variance (ANOVA), with repeated measures on the second factor, revealed a significant effect for skin color, F(2,55) = 15.24, p < .001; for SCAP rating, F(2,108) = 12.87, p < .001; and for their inter- action, F(4,108) = 5.59, p < .001. Simple-effects F tests were conducted to determine the nature of the significant interaction effect.

First, the between-groups comparison on subjects’self-perceived skin color indicated, as shown in Table 1, that subjects rated themselves similar to the skin color groups in which the judges, ratings had placed them, F(2,55) = 18.66, p <.001. This again reflects the convergence of measures as described above. More importantly, there were also significant differences on the per- sonal ideal ratings as a function of actual skin color, F(2,55)= 14. IO,p< .001. As reported in Table 1, mean comparisons (by Newman-Keuls method) indicated that light- and medium-skinned groups did not differ but chose

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Table 1

Mean Comparisons of Actual Skin-Color Groups on the SCAP Ratings

SCAP SCAP Skin color Perceived SCAP

personal ideal opposite-sex Skin color self-rating ideal rating

Actual skin color

rating

Light 3.35 (1.66), 3.60 (.173), 3.40 (1.57),

Medium 4.50 (1 .68)b 3.35 (1.66), 3.22 (1.77),

Dark 6.65 (1.84), 6.25 (2. I7), 4.10 (2.24),

Note. Standard deviations are given in parentheses. Row and column means with different subscripts are significantly different ( p < .05).

considerably lighter personal ideals than did darker skinned subjects. Among the former two groups, 67% idealized one of the three lightest skin colors, yet this was true for only 25% of the dark-skinned subjects. In contrast t o 8% of light- and medium-skinned subjects who idealized one of the three darkest skin shades, 65% of the dark subjects espoused such dark ideals. The groups did not differ, however, with regard to the skin tone they believed the opposite sex preferred, F(2,55) = 1.17, p > .30. On this perceived opposite-sex ideal rating, 70% of all subjects chose one of the three lightest shades, whereas only 17% chose the three darkest shades.

In further analysis of the significant Groups X S C A P interaction effect, simple within-group comparisons were conducted. As Table 1 shows, lighter subjects’ ratings of self, personal ideal, and perceived opposite-sex ideal did not differ, F(2,38) < 1. Although medium-toned subjects’ ideal skin-color ratings and their perceived opposite sex ideal ratings were not different, each was significantly lighter than the self-ratings, F(2,38) = 7.19, p < .01. Although darker subjects’self-ratings and personal ideals did not differ, their perceived opposite-sex ideal ratings were significantly lighter than either self-perceived o r ideal ratings, F(2,38) = 1 8 . 7 8 , ~ < .001.

These analyses confirm the existence of lighter personal ideals of skin color for the present sample of African-American women, except for the dark- skinned women. Moreover, regardless of their actual skin color, most of our subjects believed that African-American men prefer lighter skinned women.

Skin Color and Body-Image Attitudes

Due to its significant ( p < .05) group effect, a one-way MANOVA was followed by ANOVAs to determine the relationship of actual skin color to

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four body-image measures. From global to focal, these measures are MBSRQ Appearance Evaluation, BASS facial satisfaction, SCQ skin-color satisfac- tion, and SCQ desire t o change skin color. No significant group differences were found on Appearance Evaluation or facial satisfaction. Actual skin color had no bearing on skin-color satisfaction, based on the 9-point SCQ satisfac- tion item. It should be noted that correlations of self-rated skin color (on the SCAP and SCQ) with these body-image indices were nonsignificant as well. All three groups reported a moderately high level of skin-color satisfaction. Only 6% of subjects reported skin-color dissatisfaction (i.e., ratings of 1-4), 5% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (rating of 5) , and 89% reported skin-color satisfaction (ratings of 6-9).

A significant effect occurred solely on the SCQ item of how subjects would change their skin color if they could (from 1 to 9, much lighter to much darker), F(2,55) = 5.79, p < .005. The Newman-Keuls procedure indicated that although medium (M=4.50, S D = 1.20) and darker subjects ( M = 4.30, SD = 0.86) did not differ, both would make their skin color slightly lighter relative to lighter skinned subjects who indicated, on average, that they would make their skin slightly darker ( M = 5.45, S D = 1.23). Still, among all subjects, 36% wanted to be lighter, 47% would keep their skin color the same, and only 17% wanted to make their skin color darker. Thus, among subjects who would change their skin color if they could, significantly more wished to be lighter than be darker, x 2 = 3.90, p < .05.

Pearson correlations were computed to determine the relationships of evaluative, skin-color ratings with MBSRQ Appearance Evaluation and facial satisfaction. All but one of the rs were significant. The more discre- pant (in either direction) subjects’ skin-color ideals were from their self- perceived color, the less their facial satisfaction ( r = -.26, p < .05). Discre- pancies were not related, however, t o global appearance evaluations (r = -.20, p < .12). Subjects’ stated desires to change their skin color (whether lighter or darker), as well as their directly rated skin-color dissatisfaction, were associated with more negative evaluations of appearance in general (rs = -.30 and .36, respectively, p s < .05) and the face in particular (rs -.47 and .47, respectively, p s < .001). These correlations support the proposition that subjects’ skin-color attitudes per se are pertinent to their more global body-image affect.

Neither the signed nor the absolute “distortion” scores (i.e., differences between self- and judge-rated skin color) correlated significantly with any affective body-image measure. In fact, only one significant relationship emerged with the signed distortion index. Namely, the lighter the color that subjects’ assumed men preferred, the lighter they viewed themselves relative to judges’ appraisals ( r = .28, p < .05). The association of distortion and personal ideals was weaker (r = .22, p < .lo).

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Discussion

Perhaps because of the sensitive, even taboo, nature of the topic (Neal & Wilson, 1989), the present study is one of the first to focus explicitly on relationships between skin color and body image among African Americans. With Black college females, this investigation developed a new measure, the Skin Color Assessment Procedure, which involves observers’ ratings of sub- jects’ skin color plus subjects’ own ratings of skin color in terms of self- perceptions, personal ideals, and perceived opposite-sex ideals. Unlike most previous skin-color assessments that were restricted to two or three gradations of skin tone, the SCAP utilizes nine gradations. observers reliably used the SCAP to rate subjects’ facial skin color, which converged well with subjects’ own SCAP self-appraisals and with their semantic scaling of the lightness- darkness of their skin.

A number of striking findings emerged from the present investigation- most importantly, a differential valuing of lighter skin in several respects. Regardless of their own skin tone, the majority of these Black women per- ceived that lighter skin (i.e., on the average, a light medium shade) was deemed most attractive by their Black male peers. Fully 70% of the subjects selected one of the lightest three of the nine skin shades to depict their assumptions about Black males’ standards. Personal ideals espoused by the women them- selves did vary as a function of their self-perceived skin tone. Light- and dark-skinned subjects reported personal ideals relatively congruent with their skin color. Medium-skinned subjects had ideals that were significantly lighter than their self-appraised skin tone. Thus, with one exception, lightness was idealized both personally and in terms of assumptions of opposite-sex prefer- ences. The exception was that the majority (65%) of dark-skinned, African- American women selected darker personal ideals that did not differ from their perceptions of their own skin tone, even though they believed Black men preferred much lighter women. Perhaps darker women, as opposed to light- and medium-skinned women, realistically perceive such light ideals as too far removed from their actual skin tone to assimilate into their personal ideals. Thus, these data partially confirm yet qualify earlier evidence (see Neal & Wilson, 1989) that although light brown is an oft-preferred skin color among African Americans, such personal ideals are less likely among darker Black women.

Do these findings mean that darker African-American women (who feel discrepant from perceived male standards) or medium-skinned women (who possess significantly lighter personal standards) are dissatisfied with their skin color and, relatedly, with their physical appearance? We found neither to be the case. Whether self-perceived or observer rated, actual skin color bore no relationship to skin-color satisfaction per se or to more global, body-image

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attitudes. Whether dark-, medium-, or light-skinned, the majority of subjects said they felt satisfied with their skin color. However, we did find that, when asked if they could change their skin color, 47% desired no skin color change, whereas 36% would make their complexion lighter, and only 17% wished to be darker. By this index, it was clear that a higher percentage of women would elect to be lighter than darker. Even though no rampant pursuit of lightness was apparent, darker skin was seldom an aspiration.

Body-image researchers have established the affective importance of per- ceptual self-ideal discrepancies in relation to body size/ weight (e.g., Cash & Pruzinsky, 1990; Keeton et al., 1990; Thompson, 1990). Pruzinsky and Cash (1 990) have lamented researchers’ failure to extend the discrepancy construct and its perceptual methodology to other physical attributes. The present study does indeed extend self-ideal judgments to skin color. Accordingly, how do these judgments vis-a-vis skin color relate to other aspects of the body image? We found that women who held ideals that were discrepant (either lighter or darker) from their perceptions of themselves did not report more negative global body-image attitudes, suggesting that perceived skin-color discrepancy per se does not necessarily affect the emotional, body-image gestalt. Discre- pancy was related, more focally, to facial and skin-color dissatisfactions. Direct self-reports of skin-color dissatisfaction, on the other hand, were associated with more negative overall body-image evaluations, as well as with less facial satisfaction. These significant associations were modest to moder- ate in magnitude.

“Distortions” in self-ratings of skin color (relative to judges’ objective ratings) were largely unrelated to other measures in the study. Subjects were generally accurate in their self-appraisals, and inaccuracies were essentially symmetrical and independent of body-image evaluations. As has been found for body size distortion, the meaning of body-image distortion indices remains uncertain (Ben-Tovim, Walker, Murray, & Chin, 1990; Cash & Brown, 1987; Keeton et al., 1990). Still, some evidence suggests that percep- tual distortions (e.g., in reporting body weight) may operate in the service of body image ideals (Cash, Counts, Hangen, & Huffine, 1989; Cash, Grant, Shovlin, & Lewis, 1992). The present data partially support this proposition. The lighter the skin color standards that subjects believed Black men held, the lighter the women viewed themselves relative to judges’ ratings. Because this significant correlation was modest and the association was even weaker with personal skin-color ideals, the finding must be regarded as tentative.

Our results raise several important questions. What are African-American men’s ideals compared to women’s perceptions of what men prefer? Further- more, do African-American women hold the same light ideals for men? Because the present study emphasized women’s perceptions of these stand- ards, one must be cautious not to infer that their assumptions are accurate.

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For example, Fallon and Rozin (1985) observed that although women believe men hold extreme standards of thinness, what men actually regard as the most attractive female body size is somewhat more moderate and flexible than women believe it to be. Nevertheless, some older research did reveal a bias of Black men in their preference of lighter skinned females as marital partners (Goering, 1971; Martin, 1964; Udry et al., 1971). In their 1980 Ebony poll, Clark and Clark found that whereas 15% of African-American women preferred light-skinned men, 30% of African-American men pre- ferred light-skinned women. In a recent, unpublished study of African- American skin color preferences, Robinson and Cash (1992) similarly found 14% of men versus 27% of women had actual preferences for lighter-than- average skin color in the opposite sex. Recall that 70% of the women in the current study assumed men prefer one of the three lightest SCAP skin tones.

Another important direction for research on these issues would consider the role of certain individual difference variables as mediating and moderating influences. The personal and emotional meaning of one’s skin color, as well as other physiognomic attributes, may depend upon one’s contextual/ cultural values-for example, racial or ethnic identity (Helms, 1990). After all, “race” is more accurately a cultural construct than a biogenetic one, and intraracial variation greatly surpasses interracial differences (Zuckerman, 1990). The lightness-darkness of one’s skin and that of others (as well as the shape of facial features and texture of hair) may be imbued with different affective valences as a function of its “goodness of fit”(see Lerner & Jovanovic, 1990) with internalized, contextual, identity systems. In other words, the body- image implications of having negroid or Caucasoid attributes may well depend upon their congruity/ incongruity with one’s “Black consciousness” or “nigrescence” versus one’s identification with white majority culture (Cross, 1978; Helms, 1990; Hughes & Hertel, 1990; Parham, 1989).

Another possible contextual factor concerns one’s skin tone in relation to other family members. Regardless of how one’s skin tone compares with that of peers, being the “light child” or “dark child” may carry special signifi- cance, either favorable or unfavorable, in the context of specific family dynamics. For example, Liebow’s (1967) sociological treatise Tally’s Corner illustrated discontent with being the darkest child. In his autobiography, Malcolm X (1965) indicated that his being the lightest of the children fos- tered favoritism from his father and disfavor by his mother (who was ashamed of her White father). More recently, Black family therapist Boyd- Franklin ( 1989) has articulated that skin-color similarities and differences can form the basis of intrafamilial alliances and divisions. Greene (1991) similarly has argued that skin color can influence the nature and quality of parent-child relations and child development. Some evidence even attests to

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the use of skin color and hair texture as criteria for the foster placement of Black children (Daley, 1990).

Taken collectively, the present results provide some reassurance, given the tremendous historical emphasis on African Americans’skin color as a basis of social prejudice and discrimination. The majority of young Black women in our study said they felt satisfied with their skin color, irrespective of how light or dark they actually were. Similarly encouraging is the fact that even when skin-color dissatisfaction does occur, it does not seem to occupy a uniformly central place in the affective body experience of African-American college women.

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