Multiple race reporting for children in a national health survey

The 1997 standard for race and ethnicity data from the Office of Management and Budget requires the collection of data for multiple race groups. The aims of this study were to compare characteristics of multiple race children and describe race reporting for children within interracial and multiple race families. Descriptive statistics were estimated using the 1993-1995 National Health Interview Surveys. In this time period, 2.6% of children had more than one race reported. Multiple race children were a diverse group who differed from each other and their single race counterparts. For example, the percent of children reported as both Black and White who lived in a two-parent household (58.9%), was significantly less than the corresponding percents for other multiple race children (65.8%-79.6%), and between the corresponding percents for single race Black (42.7%) and single race White children (83.2%). The relationships between parental race and child's race varied. Although 3.1% of children in two-parent households lived with interracial parents, fewer than half of these children had more than one race reported. Sociodemographic variables were not associated with child's reported race among interracial families. These findings indicate that generalizations about multiple race children for research or policy purposes will be problematic.