Consistency of Race and Ethnicity Reporting in Two National Health Surveys

Jacqueline B. Lucas, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jennifer Madans, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In the brave new world of multiple race reporting, researchers are faced with the challenge of understanding how people report race and ethnicity and how to interpret data collected under the new OMB guidelines. One commonly held assumption about race and ethnicity reporting is that respondents are always - or at least often - consistent in the way they identify themselves. We use the linked 1993 National Health Interview Survey and the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth to determine the degree to which the same respondents to two national surveys are consistent in their race and ethnicity reporting. Our findings indicate that there is a high level of agreement for reporting Hispanic origin and single race groups, but a low level of agreement for reporting multiple race groups. Age, nativity, Hispanic origin and residence in a multiracial household appear to affect consistency of race reporting.