Self-rated health among multiracial young adults in the United States: findings from the add health study

Citation

Tabb, Karen M.; Gavin, Amelia R.; Smith, Douglas C.; & Huang, Hsiang (2019). Self-rated health among multiracial young adults in the United States: findings from the add health study. Ethnicity & Health. vol. 24 (5) pp. 495-511

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.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2017.1346175

Keyword(s)

Self-rated health add health mixed race multiracial odds ratios young adult

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Ethnicity & Health

Author(s)

Tabb, Karen M.
Gavin, Amelia R.
Smith, Douglas C.
Huang, Hsiang

Year Published

2019

Volume Number

24

Issue Number

5

Pages

495-511

Edition

June 28, 2017

ISSN/ISBN

1355-7858

DOI

10.1080/13557858.2017.1346175

Reference ID

7248