We hypothesize that individuals who self-identify with one racial group but are routinely perceived by observers as “looking like” another racial group may experience negative outcomes associated with this stressful situation. Since American Indians experience very high rates of misclassification, we use them as our case in point. Drawing from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, our analyses compare young American Indian adults who are perceived as another race by an observer to those who are correctly classified, using several indicators of psychological distress: depression, suicidal thoughts, use of psychological counseling services, suicide attempts, and fatalism. We also investigate differences in racial attitudes and behaviors, such as belonging to an ethnic solidarity organization or believing it is important to have a committed relationship with someone of the same race. The evidence suggests that, onthe whole, misclassified American Indians have higher rates of psychological distress. We conclude by discussing our findings and their wider implications, especially in the context of an increasingly heterogeneous and multiracial society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllisonPaul D.2001. Missing Data. Sage University Papers Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07–136. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2.
BergerJosephHamit FisekM.ZelditchMorrisJr..1977. Status Characteristics and Social Interaction: An Expectation States Approach.New York: Elsevier.
3.
BrunsmaDavid L.2005. “Interracial Families and the Racial Identification of Mixed-Race Children: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.”Social Forces84: 1131–57.
4.
BrunsmaDavid L.2006. “Public Categories, Private Identities: Exploring Regional Differences in the Biracial Experience.”Social Science Research35: 555–76.
5.
BurkePeter J.1991. “Identity Processes and Social Stress.”American Sociological Review56: 836–49.
6.
CampbellMary E.Eggerling-BoeckJennifer.2006. “What About the Children? The Psychological and Social Well-Being of Multiracial Adolescents.”The Sociological Quarterly47: 147–73.
7.
ChantalaKimTaborJoyce.1999. “Strategies to Perform a Design-Based Analysis Using the Add Health Data.” Add Health Working Paper, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
8.
CooleyCharles Horton.1902. Human Nature and the Social Order.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
9.
DeBoseHerman L.WintersLoretta I..2003. “The Dilemma of Biracial People of African American Descent.” Pp. 127–57 in New Faces in a Changing America, edited by WintersL. I.DeBoseH. L.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
10.
DurkheimEmile. [1897] 1951. Suicide: A Study in Sociology.London, England: Routledge.
11.
EschbachKarl.1993. “Changing Identification Among American Indians and Alaska Natives.”Demography30: 635–52.
12.
EschbachKarl.1995. “The Enduring and Vanishing American Indian: American Indian Population Growth and Intermarriage in 1990.”Ethnic and Racial Studies18: 89–108.
13.
GoffmanErving.1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.New York: Doubleday.
14.
HarrisDavid R.2002. “In the Eye of the Beholder: Observed Race and Observer Characteristics.”PSC Research Report 02-522. Population Studies Center: University of Michigan.
15.
HarrisDavid R.SimJeremiah Joseph.2002. “Who is Multiracial? The Fluidity of Racial Identity Among U.S. Adolescents.”American Sociological Review67: 614–27.
16.
HarrisKathleen MullanFloreyFrancescaTaborJoyceBearmanPeter S.JonesJoRichard UdryJ..2003. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research Design [WWW document]
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design
17.
HermanMelissa.2007. “It's Not All Black and White: How Observer and Target Characteristics Affect Perceptions of Multiraciality.”Department of Sociology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. Unpublished manuscript.
18.
HillMark E.2002. “Race of the Interviewer and Perception of Skin Color: Evidence from the Multi- City Study of Urban Inequality.”American Sociological Review67: 99–108.
19.
HunterMargaret L.2004. “Light, Bright and Almost White: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Light Skin.” Pp. 22–44 in Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the “Color-Blind” Era, edited by HerringC.KeithV. M.HortonH. D.. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
20.
HunterMargaret L.2005. Race, Gender and the Politics of Skin Tone.New York: Routledge.
21.
ServiceIndian Health.1999. “Trends in Indian Health: 1998-1999.” Retrieved November 8, 2005
http://www.ihs.gov/PublicInfo/Publications/trends98/trends98.asp.
22.
JonesEdward E.WoodGeorge C.QuattroneGeorge A..1981. “Perceived Variability of Personal Characteristics in In-Groups and Out-Groups: The Role of Knowledge and Evaluation.”Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin7: 523–28.
23.
KingGaryTomzMichaelWittenbergJason.2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.”American Journal of Political Science44: 347–61.
24.
LaFramboiseTeresa D.BigfootDelores Subia.1988. “Cultural and Cognitive Considerations in the Prevention of American Indian Adolescent Suicide.”Journal of Adolescence11: 139–53.
25.
LesterDavid.1995. “Social Correlates of American Indian Suicide and Homicide Rates.”American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research6: 46–55.
26.
LieblerCarolyn A.2004. “Ties on the Fringes of Identity.”Social Science Research33: 702–23.
27.
MeadGeorge Herbert.1934. Mind, Self, and Society from the Perspective of a Social Behaviorist (edited by MorrisC. W.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
28.
MiddlebrookDenise L.LeMasterPamela L.BealsJanetteNovinsDouglas K.MansonSpero M..2001. “Suicide Prevention in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: A Critical Review of Programs.”Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior31: 132–65.
29.
MooreJames C.1985. “Role Enactment and Self- Identity.” Pp. 263–316 in Status, Rewards, and Influence, edited by BergerJ.ZelditchM.. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
30.
NagelJoane.1996. American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Red Power and the Resurgence of Identity and Culture.New York: Oxford University Press.
31.
NovinsDouglas K.BealsJanetteRobertsRobert E.MansonSpero M..1999. “Factors Associated with Suicide Ideation Among American Indian Adolescents: Does Culture Matter?”Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior29: 332–46.
32.
OgunwoleStella U.2002. “The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2000.”Census 2000 Brief. Retrieved November 8, 2005
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-15.pdf.
33.
QuattroneGeorgeJonesEdward E..1980. “The Perception of Variability Within In-Groups and Out-Groups: Implications for the Law of Small Numbers.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology38: 141–52.
RothWendy D.2005. “The End of the One Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages.”Sociological Forum20: 35–67.
36.
SchaferJoe L.2000. NORM: Multiple Imputation of Incomplete Multivariate Data Under a Normal Model, Version 2.03, software for Windows 95/98/NT
http://www.stat.psu.edu/∼jls/misoftwa.html.
37.
SmithEmilie PhillipsWalkerKatrinaFieldsLaurieBrookinsCraig C.SeayRobert C..1999. “Ethnic Identity and its Relationship to Self- Esteem, Perceived Efficacy and Prosocial Attitudes in Early Adolescence.”Journal of Adolescence22: 867–80.
38.
SnippC. Matthew.1992. “Sociological Perspectives on American Indians.”Annual Review of Sociology18: 351–71.
39.
SnippC. Matthew.2002. “American Indians: Clues to the Future of Other Racial Groups.” Pp. 189–214 in The New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multiracial Individuals, edited by PerlmannJ.WatersM. C.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
40.
StrykerSheldonBurkePeter J..2000. “The Past, Present and Future of an Identity Theory.”Social Psychology Quarterly63: 284–97.
41.
TatumBeverly Daniel.1997. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?New York: Basic Books.
42.
ThompsonMaxine S.KeithVerna M..2004. “Copper Brown and Blue Black: Colorism and Self Evaluation.” Pp. 45–64 in Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the “Color-Blind” Era, edited by HerringC.KeithV. M.HortonH. D.. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
43.
ThorlindssonThorolfurBjarnasonThoroddur.1998. “Modeling Durkheim on the Micro Level: A Study of Youth Suicidality.”American Sociological Review63: 94–110.
44.
TroyerLisaWesley YountsC..1997. “Whose Expectations Matter? The Relative Power of Firstand Second-Order Expectations in Determining Social Influence.”American Journal of Sociology103: 692–732.
45.
TroyerLisaWesley YountsC.KalkhoffWill.2001. “Clarifying the Theory of Second-Order Expectations: The Correspondence Between Motives for Interaction and Actors' Orientation Toward Group Interaction.”Social Psychology Quarterly64: 128–145.
46.
TurnerJohn C.HoggMichaelOakesPenelope J.ReicherStephen D.WetherellMargaret S..1987. Rediscovering the Social Group.New York: Basil Blackwell.
47.
UdryJ. R.2003. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), Waves I & II, 1994-1996; Wave III, 2001-2002 [machine-readable data file and documentation]. Chapel Hill, NC: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
48.
WaltonGregory M.CohenGeoffrey L..2007. “A Question of Belonging: Race, Social Fit and Achievement.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology92: 82–96.
49.
WilliamsTeresa Kay.1996. “Race as Process: Reassessing the ‘What Are You?’ Encounters of Biracial Individuals.” Pp. 191–210 in The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders as the New Frontier, edited by RootM. P. P.. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
