Mixed Race Studies

Lone Mothers of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Children: Then and Now

Runnymede Trust
June 2010

Chamion Caballero, Senior Research Fellow
Families & Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Rosalind Edwards, Professor in Social Policy
Families & Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Information from the UK Census indicates that parents of children from mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds constitute one of the highest lone parent groups in the country. Like all other groups of lone parent families, these are overwhelmingly headed by mothers.

In this research report Dr. Chamion Caballero and Prof. Rosalind Edwards, of the London South Bank University, pulls together data from interviews with mothers of mixed-race children whose fathers are absent. Some of the anecdotal evidence is from those who brought up their children decades ago, and this is compared with the experiences of women doing the same today.

The report explores the specific racisms, prejudices and stereotypes that this group of women and children have been faced with – both then and now – and where, if anywhere, they have been able to turn for support.

To read the report, login or register for free here.

Mixed Race Britain: Where Next?

Runnymede Trust
2010-07-09

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Independent Journalist

My two books on mixed race Britons, Colour of Love (1992) and Mixed Feelings (2001) were among the first non-academic explorations of racial mixing in Britain. In the nine years between the two publications, awareness had grown of the fast rising number of mixed heritage families in Britain (some going back three generations) but recognition of multiple identities was yet to come. Public policies, community politics and, arguably, mixed race people and couples themselves, still worked within established mono-racial categories. Black activists forcefully argued that mixed raced people could only be black because that is how society saw them. They, in fact, appropriated the old one drop rule applied during the days of slavery. It wasn’t right in the bad old days and certainly made no sense in the late 20th century. Now that mixed race Britons are set to overtake most other ‘ethnic minority’ groups, the hope must be that old classifications and disagreements will give way to the newer, more pertinent, voices of those who are themselves biracial or even tri-racial and we will find fresh language, modernised concepts and better understanding of human desire and multifarious identities. This hasn’t happened yet. We are in a lacuna at present- in the UK and the US too…

Read the entire article here.

Editorial: “Race Correction” in Pulmonary-Function Testing

New England Journal of Medicine
2010-07-07
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe1005902

Paul D. Scanlon, M.D.
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Mark D. Shriver, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
Pennsylvania State University, University Park (M.D.S.)

Tests of pulmonary function and radiographic imaging of the chest are the two key methods used in diagnostic evaluation of patients with pulmonary disease. Unlike blood pressure, acceptable normal values vary from person to person and from one demographic group to another. The first studies, in 1846, of spirometric assessment of forced vital capacity (FVC), the most basic pulmonary-function test, showed that normal values for vital capacity vary as a function of height and age. A few years later, it was shown that vital capacity was 6 to 12% lower in healthy black soldiers than in white or Native American soldiers. It has since become standard practice to calculate, for any individual patient, normal reference values for pulmonary-function tests on the basis of population-specific reference-value equations. In North America and Europe, where majority populations have primarily European ancestry, it is common practice to adjust reference values for persons of African or African-American ancestry, Hispanic ethnicity, or Asian ancestry—an adjustment termed “race correction” or “ethnic adjustment.”…

…There are practical problems with “race correction.” Self-identified race is the accepted standard for defining race, and no allowance is made for admixture (i.e., mixed parentage). The Asian-American adjustment factor is based on two studies with small numbers of participants representing a limited range of ages, ethnic groups, and socioeconomic status. A larger, recently published study showed that for Asian Americans, a correction factor of 0.88 is more accurate than 0.94.5 And little consideration has been given to the genetic diversity within Africa and within Asia.

Moreover, there is debate regarding the appropriateness of “race correction,” and a more general debate about the concepts of “race,” “ethnicity,” and “genetic ancestry” in medical research and treatment. Does race truly exist? If so, should it be taken into account, not only in pulmonary-function testing, but also in the broader practice of medicine and biomedical research?…

Read the entire editorial here.

Genetic Ancestry in Lung-Function Predictions

New England Journal of Medicine
2010-07-07
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa0907897

Rajesh Kumar, M.D.
Max A. Seibold, Ph.D.
Melinda C. Aldrich, Ph.D., M.P.H.
L. Keoki Williams, M.D., M.P.H.
Alex P. Reiner, M.D.
Laura Colangelo, M.S.
Joshua Galanter, M.D.
Christopher Gignoux, M.S.
Donglei Hu, Ph.D.
Saunak Sen, Ph.D.
Shweta Choudhry, Ph.D.
Edward L. Peterson, Ph.D.
Jose Rodriguez-Santana, M.D.
William Rodriguez-Cintron, M.D.
Michael A. Nalls, Ph.D.
Tennille S. Leak, Ph.D.
Ellen O’Meara, Ph.D.
Bernd Meibohm, Ph.D.
Stephen B. Kritchevsky, Ph.D.
Rongling Li, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Tamara B. Harris, M.D.
Deborah A. Nickerson, Ph.D.
Myriam Fornage, Ph.D.
Paul Enright, M.D.
Elad Ziv, M.D.
Lewis J. Smith, M.D.
Kiang Liu, Ph.D.
Esteban González Burchard, M.D., M.P.H.

ABSTRACT

Background Self-identified race or ethnic group is used to determine normal reference standards in the prediction of pulmonary function. We conducted a study to determine whether the genetically determined percentage of African ancestry is associated with lung function and whether its use could improve predictions of lung function among persons who identified themselves as African American.

Methods We assessed the ancestry of 777 participants self-identified as African American in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study and evaluated the relation between pulmonary function and ancestry by means of linear regression. We performed similar analyses of data for two independent cohorts of subjects identifying themselves as African American: 813 participants in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (HABC) study and 579 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). We compared the fit of two types of models to lung-function measurements: models based on the covariates used in standard prediction equations and models incorporating ancestry. We also evaluated the effect of the ancestry-based models on the classification of disease severity in two asthma-study populations.

Results African ancestry was inversely related to forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) and forced vital capacity in the CARDIA cohort. These relations were also seen in the HABC and CHS cohorts. In predicting lung function, the ancestry-based model fit the data better than standard models. Ancestry-based models resulted in the reclassification of asthma severity (based on the percentage of the predicted FEV₁) in 4 to 5% of participants.

Conclusions Current predictive equations, which rely on self-identified race alone, may misestimate lung function among subjects who identify themselves as African American. Incorporating ancestry into normative equations may improve lung-function estimates and more accurately categorize disease severity. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.)

…There are some important limitations of our study. First, our analysis does not address population groups other than self-identified African Americans, such as Latinos, who have more complex patterns of ancestral admixture. Second, the association between lung function and ancestry found in our study may be the result of factors other than genetic variation, such as premature birth, prenatal nutrition, socioeconomic status, and other environmental factors. Third, we did not study a replication population with the same age range as that of the CARDIA cohort. Thus, we may have overestimated the association between ancestry and lung function in the CARDIA participants, who were young adults. Finally, some researcher groups used different statistical approaches to estimate ancestry in their respective study populations. We have found previously, however, that different approaches (e.g., Markov models and maximum-likelihood estimation) produce highly correlated results from the same set of markers. The consistency of our findings across three cohorts, despite the different methods for estimating ancestry, underscores the robustness of the association with ancestry…

Read the entire article/report here.

Genetic screening may redefine medical treatments

KGO-TV San Francisco, California
2010-07-07

Carolyn Johnson, Co-Anchor
KGO-TV

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — New research out of UCSF [University of California, San Francisco] shows that tracking a patient’s genetic ancestry can improve the diagnosis of asthma and other lung diseases. The results could have broader implications for other diseases that also rely on standard benchmarks such as race, gender and age.

Doctor’s office visits are the norm for 9-year-old Shamatay Hayes. She was diagnosed with asthma at age 2, something she and her mom have struggled to keep under control.

“It is challenging,” her mother says.

At San Francisco General Hospital and at asthma clinic across the country, Shamatay’s lung function is tracked using standard benchmarks such as age, gender and race. But, researchers say there is now a better way.

“So, what we can now do with modern techniques is estimate what a person’s ancestry is or what their heritage is using a series of genetic markers,” says UCSF researcher Dr. Melinda Aldrich.

The genetic markers more accurately determine lung function rather than a patient’s self-identification as simply white, black or Hispanic.

“With increasing African ancestry, we saw a decrement in lung function,” says UCSF associate professor Dr. Esteban Burchar…

…”We’ve had people contact us who were supremacists that said you know what you’re doing is validating what we believe,” he says.

But, the research actually tells a different story.

“Most of us, all of us in fact, are racially mixed,” he says. “We have a very rich heritage and what we’re doing is acknowledging that mixture and incorporating it into our clinical assessments.”…

Read the entire article and view the video clip here.

Genetic ancestry data improve diagnosis in asthma and lung disease

University of California, San Fransisco
News Release
2010-07-07

Kristen Bole

Released Jointly by UCSF and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Henry Ford Hospital, and National Jewish Health

Americans with lung disease may face a far greater level of lung damage than either they or their doctor suspect, depending on their individual genetic heritage, according to a study released July 7. The research implications range from diagnosing the severity of asthma to disability decisions or eligibility for lung transplants, researchers say.

In the largest study of its kind to date, spanning a dozen research centers and pooling data on more than 3,000 patients, a team of researchers led by UCSF and Northwestern University found that patients’ precise genetic background told far more about their potential lung function – and therefore any damage that has occurred – than the self-identified racial profile commonly used in such tests.

The results point to a more precise method of assessing patients’ lung function, as well as the potential impact of using precise genetic benchmarks for assessing health overall, researchers say. Findings will appear in the July 22 print edition of the “New England Journal of Medicine” and online on July 7 at nejm.org.

…Standard race categories, however, don’t capture the extent of our ancestral diversity, according to the paper’s senior author, Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH, who is director of the UCSF Center for Genes, Environment and Health, and a member of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department between the UCSF schools of Medicine and Pharmacy.

“People throughout the world have a richer genetic heritage than can be captured by our current definitions of race,” Burchard said, noting that almost every continent has large populations that are known to be genetically mixed. “When we force patients into an individual box, such as ‘African-American’ or ‘Caucasian’, we’re missing a lot of genetic information.”

While this study focused on patients who define themselves as African-Americans, the participants’ actual genetic ancestry ranged broadly and included Caucasian and African heritage…

To read the entire article, click here.

Research Project on Mixed Race Identity

Are you of a mixed racial background? Do you identify as ‘mixed’ or ‘mixed race’? Do you identify with a mixed racial identity?

This project is being conducted for a Master’s thesis in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta.

The purpose of the project is to explore a whole range of perspectives and experiences, and the multiple ways that ‘mixed race’ can be understood.

Male and female participants between 20-30 years of age, who are of ‘mixed racial’ parentage and who grew up in Canada, and who live or have lived in the Edmonton, Alberta area are being recruited.

Interviews will be conducted with participants, and will take approximately one hour.

If you would like to be part of this study, please contact Jillian Paragg at paragg@ualberta.ca or if you know of someone who may be interested in participating, please pass this message on to them.

Seeking Race Transcenders to Participate in Racial Identity Study

Carlos Hoyt, a Ph.D. student at Simmons College in Boston, is currently seeking individuals who are commonly identified as black or African American (including biracial or black-multiethnic), but who do not define themselves according to the social construct of race. Hoyt’s study will give race transcenders the opportunity to describe the factors and paths that led to a sense of self beyond black, bi- or multiracial identity and to an identity orientation that is non-racial.

Race transcenders are aware that society racializes them as black or African American and they are well aware of the effects of race and racism in society, but they do not subscribe to racial categorization or racial identity as part of their sense of self.  This is analogous to someone raised in a religious faith who, at some point, chooses to renounce religion altogether.  Others might know this person as a member of a family or community in a particular religious category, but the individual chooses an identity that does not include such categorization; she or he has become non-religious. The following quotation gives a clear illustration of the race transcendent orientation.

“My journey has taken me past constructions of race, past constructions of mixed race, and into an understanding of human difference that does not include race as a meaningful category (Spencer in Penn, 2002, p.10).”

If you feel that you are a race transcender and would like to share the story of how you arrived at that sense of self, please contact Carlos at hoyt.carlos@gmail.com and/or visit www.RaceTranscenders.com for more information.

Danbury’s multiracial students to star in film

The Connecticut Post
2010-04-02

Eileen FitzGerald, Staff Writer

Danbury, Connecticut—The three boys wore jeans and long-sleeve T-shirts. The two girls each wore a dozen bracelets and necklaces. They looked like typical students in the library media center at Broadview Middle School.

It was their differences, however, that brought them together Monday. They’re subjects in a documentary in which Western Connecticut State University professor Marsha Daria is examining the identity and social relationships of multiracial children.

Daria is interviewing elementary, middle and high school students to help educators and teacher training programs consider multiracial students in the curriculum and school issues…

Read the entire article here.

Meeting the Needs of Multi/Biracial Children in School and at Home

University of Wisconsin, Stout
December 2009
62 pages

Brea Cunico

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Guidance and Counseling

In an extension of research on marginalized populations, the present study identified and explored the unique needs of biracial/multiracial children. Unlike their single-race counterparts,the experience of the multiracial child is substantially different due to their ambiguous ethnicity.  A review of literature on this topic revealed six major themes among the multiracial community.  Following a thorough discussion of each need, implications for the school counselor and parents of biracial children has been provided.  To raise awareness and concern for this population in schools and at home, recommendations for application of research in this area of study center on educational and child rearing strategies for the school counselor and parents of biracial children. Practical suggestions are provided in  a convenient manual, along with a supplementary list of resources.

Table of Contents

Abstract

Chapter I: Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Assumptions of the Study
Definition of Terms
Limitations of the Study

Chapter II : Literature Review
Biracial Movement into America
Statistical Portrait
Racial Identity Model—Marguerite Wright
Maladaptive Behaviors Observed in Biracial Children
Exploration of Needs
Affirmation
Special Hair/Skin Care
Positive Sources to Identify With
Affiliation
Clear Ethnic Title
Freedom to Individualize
Summary of Findings

Chapter III: Methodology
Subject Selection and Description
Instrumentation
Promising Practices
Supply List
Data Collection Procedures
Data Analysis
Limitations of the Resource Manual

Chapter IV: Resource Manual
Note to Recipient
Navigating the Manual
Promising Practices [Manual]
Supply List [Manual]
References

Read the entire paper here.