Mixed race kids are violent drug abusers?
CVK
(Thanks to Phil C. for the tip!) According to a new study from the University of Washington, “multiracial adolescents in middle school are significantly more likely to engage in such problem behaviors as violence and substance use than single-race young people.”
…the study found that multiracial adolescents were significantly more likely than white, black or Asian-American youth to have smoked cigarettes… Similarly, whites, blacks and Asian-Americans were 45, 30 and 65 percent less likely, respectively, to have ever consumed alcohol than multiracial youngsters. Multiracial youngsters also were significantly more likely to have used marijuana and to have become drunk or high on drugs than white or Asian-Americans. There was little difference in these behaviors between multiracial and black youth. When it came to violent behaviors such as carrying a weapon, being in a fight and threatening to stab someone, multiracial youth again were significantly more likely to report having engaged in these activities than were whites or Asian-Americans…
I feel like we see at least one study like this per year. In late 2003 there was a widely-reported study done that concluded mixed teens were more likely to have emotional problems than non-mixed teens. I did a Nexis search and copied and pasted the original story here. And in May 2004, a national phone survey concluded that children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) were most prevalent among Native American children (16.6%), followed by mixed race children (15.1%). CSHCN is defined as children who “have or are at risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition.”
My knee-jerk reaction to these studies is always immediate skepticism. And I do wonder how valid these findings are, since they studied just 2,000 kids, all in Seattle. But I have no background whatsoever in statistics or sociology, so if there are any academic types or sociologists out there, I’d be curious to get your thoughts on the methodology used in this study, and the conclusions they drew.
I can say that it definitely bothers me that these studies perpetuate the notion that mixed kids and adults all have “issues” and that these issues all stem from their identity.
Vonn wrote:
What BS! I am from an area close to Seattle and most of the mixed race people I know are not involved in any type of criminal activity or behavior. No heavy drinker or drug abusers either.
I take offense to this study. All of the kids studied were probably picked from the Juvenile detention system. It seems very skewed.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 11:36 am ¶
Biyi wrote:
One would think that a study with such a controversial conclusion would delve into the details of how they standardized their studies by controlling for other environmental factors i.e. abusive childhood, violence in the home, substance abuse by parent/guardian/adult role model, parent/guardian/adult role model involvement in child’s life and providing the child with necessary coping skills to build self-efficacy etc. Most folks working in behavioral health would tell you these factors are more telling of youth risk behavior than the commonly used age, gender and socioeconomic background.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 2:01 pm ¶
Mags wrote:
If you look at the numbers from the phone survey(CSHCN), the results are not statistically significant. Basically this means there is no real mathematical difference between the groups Native American/Alaska Native children, multiracial, and non-Hispanic White children; (so you could group them both together). Looking at their numbers, I doubt there is a real difference between nonhispanic White & non-Hispanic Black. Its actually amusing that they don`t indicate any significant relationships (big no no)
The main Significant result according to the results they show seems to be between the groups they denote as Asian and those that can be regrouped as (Native American/Alaska Native children, multiracial,non-Hispanic White children & non-hispanic)
lol Spent all my day working on my statisticss for my thesis today
So basically I don`t think there is anything wrong with the study itself. But the author of the article (Domestic New article) did not interpret the results correctly.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 2:42 pm ¶
Charlette wrote:
I have relatives in Seattle and the reason she is unhappy is because of the strong racial prejudice in that location towards mixed race individuals. Is not the problem with mixed race individuals it is the response from so called one race people who feel that they were here first and they deserve even have the right to perpetuate a lie about the so called marginal races.
These kids are probably only reacting to the feeling of being left out, marginalized, excluded etc etc. I live in San Francisco and the same thing happens here to me on a daily basis and when I bring it up to less mixed race looking people who practice racialization they simply deny it. They can’t see it, they don’t fess up to the harm they are doing to others.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 6:28 pm ¶
Meg wrote:
My rant for the day:
Has anyone actually bothered to read the full article - it’s only 12 pages so if you’re going to have a go at a study because you disagree with the sentiment show the authors some respect and read their study in full.
Saying that something is statistically “significant” is different to how you would generally use it in conversation. In stats it means there appears to be true differences between groups on some measure. This could be due to error, may have no practical application, may be interesting. Since it may be interesting - read the research and form a more complete picture (not media based) of what was being said. Since this is mixed MEDIA watch if you find the media has skewed the report then take it up with the media not the researcher.
Having said all that there are a lot of stats and subtle points in the paper that i don’t have the time to read through right now and may not fully understand so i’m reserving judgement on whether the conclusions are justified or crap or a mixture of both.
As someone who believes in the usefulness of research (even when it tells you something you disagree with) I hope MMW doesn’t just bash research for the sake of it and can come at it with more than a knee-jerk reaction.
To end with i believe one of the researchers actually makes the point that nothing from the study suggests that being mixed race CAUSES these problems. Future research could try and tie this down.
End rant.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 10:13 pm ¶
Michael wrote:
As multiracial people, we can’t have it both ways. We can’t say that other people often have trouble with our boundary crossing or ambiguity and then claim that this phenomenon has no effect upon us. I think that common sense tells us that while this may serve as a relatively minor source of interpersonal stress, it CAN contribute to increased mental health issues for multiracial people.
I think the “multiracial community” shows a strong urban, educated, middle-class bias. There are plenty of poor and uneducated multiracial people who are never empowered enough to overcome other people’s negative feelings towards them. And I’ve met mixed folks who grew up in Wyoming and rural California with no peers or role models who definitely have struggled with their identities.
I just don’t think we can dismiss things like this because we find them distasteful or they threaten to confirm stereotypes. I’m in graduate school for Social Work and read valid research everyday that confirms that Black folks are more likely to commit crimes and abuse their children. It’s a struggle to accept that, but it’s reality.
Posted 06 May 2006 at 2:56 pm ¶
Rachel S wrote:
After the semester is over, I’ll read some of these articles. There have also been articles showing multiracial children perform better in school (I’ve seen a couple of those.)
I think I can give a good critique of the methodology.
RS
Posted 06 May 2006 at 8:58 pm ¶
Damie_Troy wrote:
Regardless if this study is accurate or not. No group is perfect, and every group has faults and flaws, including “multiracial people”.
Posted 06 May 2006 at 11:31 pm ¶
Biyi wrote:
Meg - No one, specifically not this social researcher, is trying to debunk social research. However, when you present data regarding an issue as volatile as race and behavioral outcomes (remember the “research behind Bell Curve that some people still use as arguments to support racism in this present age), one would expect a thorough and well taught out summary presented
For example, “Multiracial adolescents in middle school are significantly more likely to engage in such problem behaviors as violence and substance use than single-race young people, according to a new study.”
What kind of opening statement is that, when there is no follow-up sentence explaining the more nuanced experiences (as I mentioned in my earlier posting) and the outcome?
Posted 11 May 2006 at 7:57 pm ¶
udontknome wrote:
When teens turn to alcohol drugs and violence, its an easy way out if you think about it. How this study displays the trends of multi-racial teens, its most probably right. Multi-racial teens suffer in terms of finding themselves. Socially we are forced to classify ourselves under our different ethnic backgrounds. What is a mixed teen to do? I’m I this or I’m I that is constantly going through their heads which makes teen life harder in various situations depending on the social environment. The attempt to fit in is visibly obvious amoungst other people so when a multi-racial teen does any wrong doing it would be in excess. This is the attempt in doing more than everyone else is doing so that one may be seen as “cool,” rather than the mixed kid. I should know, I’m an 18 year old west-indian french girl that’s been through it. I even did time for some of it.
Posted 19 May 2006 at 6:44 am ¶