Posted on Aug 28, 2021
The Census Has Revealed A More Multiracial U.S. One Reason? Cheaper DNA Tests
451
18
3
7
7
0
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/28/ [login to see] /2020-census-results-data-race-multiracial-dna-ancestry-test-mixed-biracial
As experts look at the changing numbers, three main factors have emerged as drivers of this boom.
A growing share of children in the U.S. have been born to parents who identify with racial groups that are different from one another.
For the 2020 count, the Census Bureau changed how it asked about race and how it categorized the answers. (If you wrote in a response that federal standards consider to be "Hispanic or Latino," for example, that answer was sorted into the "Some Other Race" category.)
And more people may be rethinking what they tell the government about their identities. Some demographers are wondering how much a relatively new trend may have contributed to that growth — the rise of at-home DNA ancestry testing.
As experts look at the changing numbers, three main factors have emerged as drivers of this boom.
A growing share of children in the U.S. have been born to parents who identify with racial groups that are different from one another.
For the 2020 count, the Census Bureau changed how it asked about race and how it categorized the answers. (If you wrote in a response that federal standards consider to be "Hispanic or Latino," for example, that answer was sorted into the "Some Other Race" category.)
And more people may be rethinking what they tell the government about their identities. Some demographers are wondering how much a relatively new trend may have contributed to that growth — the rise of at-home DNA ancestry testing.
The Census Has Revealed A More Multiracial U.S. One Reason? Cheaper DNA Tests
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: US Census Bureau
Diversity
Diversity
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
5
5
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel thanks Brother William for the read and share of the most informative my friend.
(5)
(0)
5
5
0
Good. There are a few mixed marriages in my relations and I have no problems with any of them. However, I 2 Baptist ministers in my relations and I can't stand either one of them.
(5)
(0)
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Exactly how big of an effect these tests had on census results is difficult to pin down. But many researchers agree that as the cost of at-home kits fell in recent years, they have helped shape an increasing share of the country's ever-changing ideas about the social construct that is race.
Many at-home DNA ancestry testing kits require participants to mail in a sample of saliva.
Although DNA ancestry test takers likely make up a sliver of the U.S. population — 16%, according to a 2019 estimate by the Pew Research Center — the wide reach of the marketing efforts of companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, which operates the AncestryDNA service, should not be underestimated, warns Jenifer Bratter, a sociologist at Rice University who studies multiracial identity.
"The public has kind of taken in the notion that you can find out 'who you are' with a test that's supposed to analyze your genes," Bratter says. "What that does for anyone who does work in racial identity and racial demography is cause us to think through how genetic ideas of race are in public circulation."
"These genetic ancestry tests may be pushing the concept of race to match genetic ancestry more, including information about very distant ancestors, rather than sort of the more contemporary family history or personal social experience," says Sasha Shen Johfre, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Stanford University who co-authored a study recently published in the academic journal Demography.
Its findings suggest adults 50 and up are most likely to self-identify as multiracial on surveys after receiving a report about the potential roots of their family tree based on a DNA analysis of their saliva. The study of more than 100,000 adults registered as potential bone marrow donors in the U.S. also found that DNA test takers were especially likely to identify with three or more racial groups.
What The New Census Data Can — And Can't — Tell Us About People Living In The U.S.
Many people who identify as white but not Latino often buy these test kits for themselves wanting to claim a different identity and use the results as proof of a specific ancestry, according to research by Wendy Roth, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has looked into how genetic ancestry testing influences the identities of different racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.
"Native American was the one identity people really wanted to have and really wanted to prove," Roth says, adding that she has also found that some people stopped claiming Native American identity after the results of a test did not show any genetic ancestry.
"In and of itself, it doesn't tell you your race or ethnicity," Roth says. "What these companies are telling you is that you have a likelihood of having a certain amount of your genetic markers associated with certain populations more often than others."
Roth is concerned about the potential implications of genetic ancestry test results shaping how some people report their race for the census, which produces data the government relies on to enforce civil rights protections and researchers use to measure the racial disparities in health care, housing access and education.
"You're going to have a lot more people who are not part of marginalized groups in terms of their social experiences claiming to be part of marginalized groups," Roth says about a likely effect of ancestry tests on the census. "When it comes to understanding discrimination or inequality, we're going to have very inaccurate estimates."
..."Exactly how big of an effect these tests had on census results is difficult to pin down. But many researchers agree that as the cost of at-home kits fell in recent years, they have helped shape an increasing share of the country's ever-changing ideas about the social construct that is race.
Many at-home DNA ancestry testing kits require participants to mail in a sample of saliva.
Although DNA ancestry test takers likely make up a sliver of the U.S. population — 16%, according to a 2019 estimate by the Pew Research Center — the wide reach of the marketing efforts of companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com, which operates the AncestryDNA service, should not be underestimated, warns Jenifer Bratter, a sociologist at Rice University who studies multiracial identity.
"The public has kind of taken in the notion that you can find out 'who you are' with a test that's supposed to analyze your genes," Bratter says. "What that does for anyone who does work in racial identity and racial demography is cause us to think through how genetic ideas of race are in public circulation."
"These genetic ancestry tests may be pushing the concept of race to match genetic ancestry more, including information about very distant ancestors, rather than sort of the more contemporary family history or personal social experience," says Sasha Shen Johfre, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Stanford University who co-authored a study recently published in the academic journal Demography.
Its findings suggest adults 50 and up are most likely to self-identify as multiracial on surveys after receiving a report about the potential roots of their family tree based on a DNA analysis of their saliva. The study of more than 100,000 adults registered as potential bone marrow donors in the U.S. also found that DNA test takers were especially likely to identify with three or more racial groups.
What The New Census Data Can — And Can't — Tell Us About People Living In The U.S.
Many people who identify as white but not Latino often buy these test kits for themselves wanting to claim a different identity and use the results as proof of a specific ancestry, according to research by Wendy Roth, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has looked into how genetic ancestry testing influences the identities of different racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.
"Native American was the one identity people really wanted to have and really wanted to prove," Roth says, adding that she has also found that some people stopped claiming Native American identity after the results of a test did not show any genetic ancestry.
"In and of itself, it doesn't tell you your race or ethnicity," Roth says. "What these companies are telling you is that you have a likelihood of having a certain amount of your genetic markers associated with certain populations more often than others."
Roth is concerned about the potential implications of genetic ancestry test results shaping how some people report their race for the census, which produces data the government relies on to enforce civil rights protections and researchers use to measure the racial disparities in health care, housing access and education.
"You're going to have a lot more people who are not part of marginalized groups in terms of their social experiences claiming to be part of marginalized groups," Roth says about a likely effect of ancestry tests on the census. "When it comes to understanding discrimination or inequality, we're going to have very inaccurate estimates."
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google