Issues in the Classification of Race and Ethnicity Data Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics

This session… Discusses implementation in NCHS data systems of the Revised OMB Standards for Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, including:  Changes in data collection requirements;  Tabulation of multiple-race categories;  Impact on differential and trend analyses;  Interrelation with other Federal data systems.

Session agenda… Revised OMB Standards on Race/Ethnicity National Vital Statistics System (Jim Weed) National Health Care Surveys (Irma Arispe) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Benny Kottiri) National Health Interview Survey (Jacqueline Lucas) Bridging race data in the 2000 census (Jennifer Parker) NCHS program of race/ethnicity research (Jennifer Madans)

The next slide… Presents the standard race categories mandated for Federal data collection systems by the Office of Management and Budget in 1977 and as revised in 1997; and Emphasizes the shift in data collection from “Select one…” to “Select one or more…”, so that respondents are able to report more than one race with which they identify.

OMB Standard Categories for Race Directive 15 (1977): “Select one … ” American Indian or Alaska Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black White Revised Standard (1997): “Select one or more… ” American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Black or African American Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander White

Presentation of Race Data  OMB urges as much detail as possible without compromising data quality or confidentiality standards;  For aggregate data presentation, provide the number who selected only one category, separately for each of the five racial categories;  Show as many multiple responses as possible, but if all multiples are collapsed then at a minimum show number reporting “more than one race;”

Presentation of Data, cont.  Report the number in each racial category who are Hispanic or Latino;  When more detailed information on racial subgroups is collected, the category “More than one race” includes respondents who selected more than one of the five basic racial categories in the new standard.

Hispanic and Race questions on the 2000 census form Implementation of Revised Race/Ethnicity Standards has already occurred in the 2000 decennial census, which allowed respondents to check any of 15 checkboxes and/or write in race entities.

(darkest) (lightest) U.S. Map shows higher concentration of multiple-race population in West and Mountain regions, eastern Oklahoma, and selected counties or urban areas…

New question on Hispanic origin for revised birth and death certificates…

New question on race for revised certificates— permits respondent to “Check one or more races…”

Revised race/ethnicity standards on State vital records… Have been implemented in California State birth and death record systems, which processed multiple-race data beginning in 2000; Some additional States will implement in 2003, but others will implement as they re-engineer their vital records systems in later years; Consequently, for a period of time there will be a lack of strict comparability between population data by race based on the 2000 census and race data collected on vital records.

The next slide… Shows the percent that each standard race category would increase if all persons reporting a particular race (in combination) were added to the number reporting that race alone; Note that the number of persons who might have reported American Indian or Alaska Native under the old standard probably lies between 2.5 and 4.1 million, probably much closer to 2.5 than 4.1; Note that the number reporting Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination is more than double the number reporting NHOPI alone!

Increase in race groups due to multiple-race inclusion…

Need for Bridging… OMB recognizes the potential problem of at least a temporary incompatibility between numerators and denominators for rates and allows agencies to employ a “bridge period.” Despite the small numbers of multiple-race people, the previous slide suggests that single-race populations will not be compatible with birth or death numerators as currently collected to calculate rates without some kind of modification.

Bridging methods… Involve a model that translates multiple race responses for an individual into the one, single response we predict that the individual most likely would have reported under the old standard. Help users understand relationship between old and new data series. Provide consistent numerators and denominators for transition period, before all data are available in the new standard.