Social and Structural Influences on Multiracial Identification and Health: a Public Health Mandate to Precisely Measure, Theorize, and Better Understand Multiracial Populations

Abstract

There is a growing group of adolescents and young adults in the USA who identify as multiracial. However, very little research, especially health research, focuses on understanding multiracial identification and health and behavioral outcomes for multiracial populations in comparison to their single-race counterparts. Understanding the intersectional influences on this identification process is critical to updating the literature on racial and ethnic identity and health with more accurate identifications and categories. It is especially critical that there is an explicit focus on understanding the impact of structural racism and discrimination when studying the process of racial identification and the impact on health. This review takes an interdisciplinary approach relying on a review of multiple research literatures: the historical literature on race, racism and categorization, psychological and adolescent medicine literatures on adolescent development, the sociological literature on racial and ethnic identification, and the limited public health research beginning to disentangle multiracial health outcomes. An empirically testable conceptual framework is offered to frame the organization of this review-demonstrating the multiple spheres of influence on racial and ethnic identification and the implication for health outcomes.

Keywords: Adolescents and young adults; Identity; Multiracial.