Is it true that if parents are 2 different races, the kid will come out looking more like the father's race

Question

I've heard someone say that before.

I'm nto sure if it's true. Two people I know are half Puerto Rican and half white, but you would only guess that they're white. They're fathers were the ones that are Puerto Rican. My niece and nephew look basically full Asian, even though the mother is white. I can't really tell with ehr baby yet. She looks Asian I guess, but sort of white. I don't know, but she's so cute.

Answer 1

I'm deeply involved int he filipino-american community, and most of the children look 100% filipino, following their mothers. My children are the exception. My son looks more filipino, but my daughter has a more european bone structure, and has freckles (weird).

Once after getting her hair cut, one of her classmates commented that with the new hairstyle, she looked almost asian. She gave him a look that should have dropped him in his tracks, and said "Duh! I'm half filipino, you doofus!"

Answer 2

No, they come out looking like whichever one has more dominant features.  

Answer 3

I think it takes after the dominant, e,g the darker skin, however it will be a tan of both.

Answer 4

Not true... if the parents are for two dif races the kid will be interracial.. and usually beautiful.  

Answer 5

not true but out of interest I have heard that a baby will take on the features of parent it is around the most during early childhood........

Answer 6

Its a 50 50 but normaly I think its the fathers race

Answer 7

i have a Phillipeano Friend who married a white man and the child looks more like her.

Answer 8

Not true. In truth it all depends on what genes are dominant, (showing) and recessive, (hidden). We can look more like our mother or our father, it's not possible for the father to ALWAYS hold the dominant genes. The only thing fathers determine  is our s*x. We take 23 chromosomes from mum, and 23 from dad to make up our 46. From there, it's just a matter of which parents dominant genes mask which parents recessive, or merge together, and so on. (It's actually more complicated but I could go on forever). Hence this is why a mixed race child can have a combination of traits from each ethnicity.

It's important to remember though, that even if half Puerto Rican, half white children have 'white' traits, they probably still hold 'latin' traits, they are just recessive. So, considering we normally look most like our grandparents, (due to genotypes skipping generations), they could end up producing offspring that look more Puerto Rican than themselves. Ahh...genetics, if I had more time I could go into much more detail...but tryna keep it simple.

Answer 9

No. You get 1/2 your genes from each of your parents so the odds are 50/50 you'll favor one over the other. But in terms of skin color, that's not an either/or gene since there are many shades.  People tend to be in between the shades of their parents.  

Also Puerto Rican isn't a race, it's an ethnicity. The people tend to be of mixed race heritage inlcuding white Spaniards and Native.

Answer 10

I think its just perception because i'm assuming you live in a western country where white is the main ethnic race. Therefore if you see a mixed white/asian you would see more asian because it is the race you are least farmiliar with. But take that same baby to asia and they would probably think that they're a bit too white you see what i mean?

Answer 11

No it is absolutely not true at all.

Any examples of that are co-incidental. There are many examples in cross racial couples where the children look like their mothers.

The biological reason is that children inherit an equal number of genes from both parents. How the genes feature is determined by which genes are dominant. Except for the gender genes themselves, there is no difference between the number of dominant genes that males and females carry in general. Darker features tend to be dominant, that is why "white" features (particularly lighter eyes) loose out on featuring in cross racial offspring.

That would also explain your observation, because in all cases you mention, the white person happened to be the mother. It is possible that two siblings with a mixed set of parents look radically different. The one looks to be the race of the mom, and the other looks like the dad. But even there the one who looks like the dad may in other ways (personality traits, blood group allergies etc) be closer to the mom.

It is also possible that children resemble different races at different ages. In central Europe young children look "nordic", but most of them grow out of it, with their hair darkening.

Answer 12

In the case of my brother's children...he is Cook Island (Polynesian) his partner is Caucasian...the kids are white like their mother but they do have a few of our family traits....they truly are a mix of their parents...so I don't think its true

Answer 13

No. It depends on the dominant traits. I have a friend who's half Vietnamese, and her dad is white. She looks full Asian.

Answer 14

oh gee, my semester of biology is coming back to me...

If the father is like, dark skinned, dark haired or dark eyed, then the kid WILL most likely take on those traits, but not because he's the father. Brown and dark colours in general is a dominant trait, which means it will usually come out on top if put against paler colours. If the mum was dark and the father was white, it would probably work the other way.