Karen M Tabb1, Amelia R Gavin2, Douglas C Smith1, Hsiang Huang3. 1. a School of Social Work , University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign , IL , USA. 2. b School of Social Work , University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA. 3. c Department of Psychiatry , Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School , Cambridge , MA , USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The multiracial adult population is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, yet much remains to be learned about multiracial health. Considerable research finds racial/ethnic disparities in self-rated health, however subgroups within the multiracial population have not been consistently described. DESIGN: We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multivariate logistic regression analyses to compare self-rated health of multiracial and monoracial young adults (n = 7880). RESULTS: Overall, there were no significant differences in poor self-rated health status of multiracial adults as a single group odds ratio 0.84 (95% CI: 0.52-1.36) compared to monoracial White adults. Analyses further revealed important variations in health-status by specific subgroups and show that some multiracial subgroups may not fit existing patterns of health disparities. For instance, Asian-White multiracial adults do not fit documented patterns of health disparities and report better health than monoracial Asian and monoracial White adults. CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that the inclusion of specific multiracial categories provides evidence to enhance understanding of the pathways that are linked to health outcomes and the implications for health disparities.
OBJECTIVE: The multiracial adult population is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, yet much remains to be learned about multiracial health. Considerable research finds racial/ethnic disparities in self-rated health, however subgroups within the multiracial population have not been consistently described. DESIGN: We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multivariate logistic regression analyses to compare self-rated health of multiracial and monoracial young adults (n = 7880). RESULTS: Overall, there were no significant differences in poor self-rated health status of multiracial adults as a single group odds ratio 0.84 (95% CI: 0.52-1.36) compared to monoracial White adults. Analyses further revealed important variations in health-status by specific subgroups and show that some multiracial subgroups may not fit existing patterns of health disparities. For instance, Asian-White multiracial adults do not fit documented patterns of health disparities and report better health than monoracial Asian and monoracial White adults. CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that the inclusion of specific multiracial categories provides evidence to enhance understanding of the pathways that are linked to health outcomes and the implications for health disparities.