Louie, P., Wheaton, B. Mapping Multiracial Versus Monoracial Health Disparities. Race Soc Probl 18, 3 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-025-09473-x
Abstract
Multiracial people are often thought of as a symbol of racial progress in American society. But what is lost in this discourse are the consequences of distinct multiracial statuses for individuals who live in-between traditional racialized boundaries. In this study, we disentangle the implications of multiracial status for health by examining specific multiracial groups versus their monoracial counterparts. Using an 11-year pooled sample of the nationally representative Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (2002–2012) (N = 3,737,438), we assess several hypotheses, termed blended status, minority status, assimilation, and exceptionalism, to test the positionality of three multiracial groups (Black-White, Black-Asian, and Asian-White adults) relative to their monoracial counterparts. We derive relative risks from odds ratios in logistic regression models to compare the self-rated health and self-rated mental health of multiracial adults to monoracial adults. We 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. For example, Black-White adults have higher relative risk of poor self-rated health than White adults (RR: 1.29), but do not differ from Black adults (RR: 1.09), providing support for the minority status hypothesis. However, Black-White adults have higher relative risk than Black adults (RR: 1.32) of poor mental health but their mental health does not differ from White adults (RR: 1.15), providing support for the upward assimilation hypothesis. The results of this study provide new 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.