Louie Maps Multiracial Versus Monoracial Health Disparities
Posted: 12/25/2025 (CSDE Research)
CSDE Affiliate Patricia Louie (Sociology) examined the implications of multiracial status for health by examining specific multiracial groups (Black-White, Black-Asian, and Asian-White adults) versus their monoracial counterparts in an article published in Race and Social Problems. Louie and her co-author draw on an 11-year pooled sample of the nationally representative Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (2002–2012) and find that different hypotheses fit the health risk status of different multiracial groups. The upward assimilation hypothesis applies to Asian-White adults (closer to White adults than Asian adults), the minority status hypothesis applies to Black-Asian adults (closer to Black adults than to Asian adults), and Black-White adults have profiles that differ depending on the outcome under study. The results provide insights into how specific combinations of multiracial status fit into the racialized social structure as well as the analytic benefits of disaggregating multiracial people into their component groups.