Are biracial people less happy? With all this talk about Obama's racial identity and his depression, I was interested in this question. I used General Social Survey data to construct two variables: 1) people who say their ancestors are 1st from Africa and 2nd from some white country, versus all others, and 2) people who say their ancestors are 1st from some white country and 2nd from Africa, versus all others. The former I will call "black-whites" and the latter will be "white-blacks."
By the way, the numbers of these biracial people who put black first is twice as large as those who put white first, and the percent of these folks who said "black" when simply asked their race was 88% for the white-blacks and 93% for the black-whites. Here are the percentages for happiness:
Percent very happy
Unmixed whites 33.2
Unmixed blacks 20.9
Unmixed others 30.1
Black-whites 20.9
White-blacks 24.8
The second answer-choice is "pretty happy", but let's look at the third choice--"not too happy":
Percent not too happy
Unmixed whites 9.2
Unmixed blacks 23.6
Unmixed others 11.9
Black-whites 15.6
White-blacks 23.8
Biracials--both black-whites and white-blacks--have low levels of happiness, but not lower than unmixed blacks. But we can't tell from these numbers if the causes of the similar levels are the same or not.
Are gun owners mentally ill?
Some anti-gun people think owning a gun is a sign of some kind of mental abnormality. According to General Social Survey data, gun owners ...
The disturbing part is that most of them identify as black. America's "one drop rule" is ludicrous and senseless. Yet we still cling tenaciously to it.
ReplyDelete^ it has nothing to do with the one drop rule and everything to do with white supremacy (the contruction of whiteness) and not wanting to participate or associate with it.
ReplyDeletewhiteness is nothing to aspire to.
Anon: And evidently blackness IS something to aspire to.
ReplyDeleteAs a person of mixed race I'd like to address Peter's bothersome discovery that most black and white people identify primarily with the black race. I wouldn't expect you or anyone who is not mixed to understand that black people are more accepting and welcoming to mixed people. I have friends of both races but all my really good friends have been black. In my experiences, white people are just not as accepting. I know it seems sad but it's true.
ReplyDeletei am a mixed person but was adopted by a white family in rural west virginia. im mixed but i really look more "black" than white.in high school i was the only person of color in the entire school. i never had trouble being accepted in my high school. I was captain of my football team and was i guess a 'popular' kid. i even dated the homecoming queen. i was always known as the black kid, and it never bothered me. i always identified myself as being more black than anything else. then i went to college where there were actually other black people. they were from places like atlanta, DC, baltimore(urban areas) i tried making friends with some of the guys but it seemed like i never fit in with these people. i have even been called "mexican" now it seems like i dont know who i identify with. i dont look at all white but most of my friends are white and i have a hard time fitting in with the black crowd.being mixed is hard
ReplyDelete