The Educational Costs of Being Multiracial: Evidence from a National Survey of Adolescents

Posted in Media Archive, Reports, Social Science, United States on 2010-05-14 19:35Z by Steven

The Educational Costs of Being Multiracial: Evidence from a National Survey of Adolescents

PSC Research Report
Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
Report No. 02-521
August 2002
24 pages, 5 tables

David R. Harris, Deputy Provost, Vice Provost for Social Sciences, and Professor of Sociology
Cornell University

Justin L. Thomas, Lecturer in Public Policy
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan

There is clear evidence that the number of multiracial children in the U.S. is growing, yet existing research  offers few insights into how outcomes for these children compare to those of their single-racepeers. We address this gap by using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess racial differences in education. Specifically, we compare vocabulary scores, grade point averages, and odds of repeating a grade for multiracial and single-race youth. Our findings deviate substantially from the predictions of the marginal man hypothesis, an influential, rarely tested thesis about the consequences of being multiracial. We find that white/black youth have outcomes that are unlike those of blacks, and white/American Indians do not differ from whites, but the situation is more complex for white/Asians. We close by acknowledging that racial classification is a social process, and discussing the implications of racial fluidity for assessments of educational differences.

Read the entire report here.

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