RCMAR Measurement Cores
Race/Ethnicity Reference List

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General Research and Survey Methods references

Compilations and Methods references

General and Qualitative references

Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale references

Race/Ethnicity references

Racial Identity references

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Reference List Sub-Sections:

Conceptualizations of Race and Ethnicity: Health Research

Conceptualizations of Race and Ethnicity: General References

Introduction

Although the concept of race is regularly used as a meaningful descriptor in health research, many have challenged the scientific utility of the concept. There is no doubt that the construct of race is often used in an uncritical manner. It is sometimes used as a proxy for socioeconomic status and is very often used synonymously with such terms as ethnicity and culture. As a result, the scientific community is witnessing an increase in writings questioning the existence of race as a biologically or genetically meaningful construct. Similarly, some have noted that while terms such as "Black", "Hispanic", "Asian", "American Indian", and "White", may be bureaucratically convenient, they have made talking and thinking about race and ethnicity somewhat simplistic. Some argue that these are overly broad pan-ethnic labels that categorize a disparate number of groups who happen to share a few visible characteristics such as skin color and a few other identifiable physical features. Others argue that these are biologically meaningful population groups with significant genetic differences. Clearly, we are witnessing a critical inspection, redefinition, and perhaps clarification of what is meant by such terms as race, ethnicity, minority, and culture. These varying perspectives have resulted in some interesting and provocative reading material. This reference list contains readings that examine the concepts of race and ethnicity from multiple perspectives. We offer this reading list based on the assumption that all social scientists interested in a deeper understanding of population group differences can benefit from exposure to the ongoing debate about the appropriate conceptualization and measurement (e.g., self-report versus observer report) of race and ethnicity.

Conceptualizations of Race and Ethnicity

Report on the symposium "Collecting data on race/ethnicity and social class: implications for health care delivery and research". In: Collecting data on race/ethnicity and social class: implications for health care delivery and research, March 7, 1997, Oakland, CA.

Reporting race and ethnicity data - National electronic telecommunications system for surveillance. MMWR 48 (15): 305-312, 1999.

Use of race and ethnicity in public health surveillance: summary of the CDC/ATSDR workshop. MMWR 42 (RR-10): 1-17, 1993.

Bhopal R, Donaldson L. White, European, Western, Caucasian, or what? Inappropriate labeling in research on race, ethnicity, and health. American Journal of Public Health 88: 1303-1307, 1998.

Bhopal RS. Bhopal responds to Rabin and Buehler. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 784, 1999.

Bhopal RS, Donaldson LJ. Bhopal and Donaldson respond to Krieger. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 784, 1999.

Blustein J. The reliability of racial classifications in hospital discharge abstract data. American Journal of Public Health 84 (6): 1018-1021, 1994.

Buehler JW. Abandoning race as a variable in public health research. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 783, 1999.

Cooper RS. A note on the biologic concept of race and its application in epidemiologic research. American Heart Journal 108 (No. 3, Part 2): 715-723, 1984.

Cooper RS. A case study in the use of race and ethnicity in public health surveillance. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 46-52, 1994.

Cooper RS. Freeman VL. Limitations in the use of race in the study of disease causation. Journal of the National Medical Association. 91(7): 379-83, 1999

Corcos AF. The Myth of Human Races. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997.

Crews DE, Bindon JR. Ethnicity as a taxonomic tool in biomedical and biosocial research. Ethnicity & Disease 1 (Winter): 42-49, 1991.

Freeman HP. The meaning of race in science - considerations for cancer research. Concerns of special populations in the National Cancer Program. Cancer 82: 219-225, 1998.

Fulilove MT. Deconstructing race in medical research. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 148: 1014-1015, 1994.

Fulilove MT. Fulilove responds. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 783, 1999.

Hahn RA. The state of federal health statistics on racial and ethnic groups. Journal of the American Medical Association 267: 268-271, 1992.

Hahn RA, Mulinare J, Teutsch SM. Inconsistencies in coding of race and ethnicity between birth and death in US infants. Journal of the American Medical Association 267 (2): 259-263, 1992.

Hahn RA, Stroup DF. Race and ethnicity in public health surveillance: criteria for the scientific use of social categories. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 7-15, 1994.

Herman AA. Toward a conceptualization of race in epidemiologic research. Ethnicity & Disease 6 (1,2): 7-20, 1996.

Jackson FLC. Race and ethnicity as biological constructs. Ethnicity & Disease 2 (Spring): 120-125, 1992.

Kaufman JS. How inconsistencies in racial classification demystify the race construct in public health statistics. Epidemiology 10 (2): 101-103, 1999.

Krieger N, Williams D, Zierler S. Whiting out white privilege will not advance the study of how racism harms health. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 782, 1999.

Lauderdale DS, Goldberg J. The expanded racial and ethnic codes in the Medicare data files: their completeness of coverage and accuracy. American Journal of Public Health 86: 712-716, 1996.

LaVeist TA. Beyond dummy variables and sample selection: what health services researchers ought to know about race as a variable. Health Services Research 29: 1-16, 1994.

LaVeist TA. Why we should continue to study race...but do a better job: An essay on race, racism and health. Ethnicity & Disease 6 (1,2): 21-29, 1996.

Lott JT. Policy purposes of race and ethnicity: an assessment of federal racial and ethnic categories. Ethnicity & Disease 3 (Summer): 221-228, 1993.

Martinez RM, Lillie-Blanton M. Why race and gender remain important in health services research. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 12 (5): 316-318, 1996.

McKenney NR, Bennett CE. Issues regarding data on race and ethnicity: the Census Bureau experience. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 16-25, 1994.

Osborne NG. The use of race in medical research. JAMA 267 (2): 275-279, 1992.

Rabin R. The use of race as a variable in public health research. American Journal of Public Health 89 (5): 783, 1999.

Rabin SA. A private sector view of health, surveillance, and communities of color. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 42-45, 1994.

Senior PA, Bhopal R. Ethnicity as a variable in epidemiological research. British Medical Journal 309: 327-330, 1994.

Smith M, Lin K-M. A biological, environmental, and cultural basis for ethnic differences in treatment. In: Kato PM, Mann T, eds. Handbook of Diversity Issues in Health Psychology. New York: Plenum Press, pp.389-406, 1996.

Warren RC, Hahn RA, Bristow L, Yu ESH. The use of race and ethnicity in public health surveillance. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 4-6, 1994.

Weissman A. Race-ethnicity: A dubious scientific concept (Letters to the Editor). Public Health Reports 105 (1): 102-103, 1990.

White-Means S. Conceptualizing race in economic models of medical utilization: a case study of community-based elders and the emergency room. Health Services Research 30 (1): 207-223, 1995.

Williams DR. The concept of race in health services research: 1966 to 1990. Health Services Research 29 (3): 261-274, 1994.

Williams DR, Lavizzo-Mourey R, Warren RC. The concept of race and health status in America. Public Health Reports 109 (1): 26-41, 1994.

Witzig R. The medicalization of race: scientific legitimization of flawed social construct. Annals of Internal Medicine 125: 675-679, 1996.

Zimmerman RS, Vega WA, Gil AG, Warheit GJ, Apospori E, Biafora F. Who is Hispanic? Definitions and their consequences. American Journal of Public Health 84 (12): 1985-1987, 1994.

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Conceptualizations of Race and Ethnicity: General References

Betancourt H, Lopez SR. The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist 48 (6): 629-637, 1993.

Beutler LE, Brown MT, Crothers L, Booker K, Seabrook MK. The dilemma of factitious demographic distinctions in psychological research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64: 892-902, 1996.

Cohen MN. Culture of Intolerance: Chauvinism, Class, and Racism in the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

Fernando S, Ndegwa D, Wilson M. Forensic psychiatry, race and culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.

Ferrante J, Brown P. The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity in the United States. New York: Longman, An Imprint of Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1998.

Gossett TF. Race: The History of an Idea in America. New Edition ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Gould SJ. The Mismeasure of Man. Revised and Expanded ed. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1996.

Harding S. The "Racial" Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic Future. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993.

Lubiano W. The House that Race Built: Black Americans, U.S. Terrain. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997.

Marks J. Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995.

Molnar S. Human Variation: Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups. Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

Montagu A. The Concept of Race. New York: The Free Press, 1964.

Montagu A. Man's most dangerous myth: The fallacy of race. Sixth Edition ed. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press (A Division of Sage Publications), 1997.

Montagu A. Race and IQ. Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Omi M, Winant H. Racial Formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Phinney JS. When we talk about American ethnic groups, what do we mean? American Psychologist 51 (9): 918-927, 1996.

Taylor J. The Real American Dilemma: Race, Immigration and the Future of America. Oakton, Virginia: New Century Books, 1998.

U. S. Office of Management and Budget. Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity; Notice. Federal Register Part VI, Office of Management and Budget 60 (166): 44674-44693, 1995.

Velez W. Race and Ethnicity in the United States: An Institutional Approach. Dix Hills, New York: General Hall, Inc., 1998.

Vondung K. The history of the race idea: From Ray to Carus. Vol. 3. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998.

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