Health of Biracial Children

Context

This year marks the 50^th year anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia, the landmark Supreme Court case that declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in the United States. During this fifty-year period, the share of newlyweds in interracial unions in the United States increased more than five times and the number of multiracial individuals increased by more than ten times. Despite the growing demographic salience of multiracial individuals, little is known about their health. The rare exceptions focus on the birth outcomes of biracial children (see Srinivasjois et al. 2012) or the psychological wellbeing of multiracial adolescents (Campbell and Eggerling-Boeck 2006). To date, no studies have examined the overall physical health of biracial children.

Objectives

Using data from the 1998-2012 National Health Interview Surveys, we compare the general health of biracial children born to White and Black parents with that of single-race White and Black children. We also explore the extent to which group differences can be explained by socio-demographic correlates of health. Finally, we investigate regional variations in the relationship between children’s racial background and their overall health.

Contributions

Our study contributes important insights about racial inequalities in health. First, given the increasing demographic salience of multiracial individuals, information about the physical health of the multiracial children has implications for the health of future populations. Second, most studies of children’s health disparities define children’s race/ethnicity based solely on the mother’s race/ethnicity. Our study focuses on children’s health disparities according to maternal and paternal race/ethnicity, which leads to a more refined understanding about race/ethnic disparities in children’s health. Finally, rising numbers of biracial children have been celebrated for its ability to race/ethnic distinctions and inequality (Qian and Lichter 2007). A comparison of the health of biracial children can empirically test whether the rising share of biracial children reduces race/ethnic inequalities in health.