Implications for Coding Race and Ethnicity for American Indian and Alaska Native High School Students in a National Survey

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 1245 - 1257
• Main Authors: Jones, Sherry Everett, Satter, Delight E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Johns Hopkins University Press 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Alaska Natives; American Indians; Bullying; Coding; Ethnicity; Health disparities; Health risks; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Indians, North American; Indigenous peoples; Minority & ethnic groups; Missing data; Native North Americans; Polls & surveys; Race; Racial Groups; Response rates; Risk taking; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Students; Suicidal behavior; Suicides & suicide attempts; Surveillance; Surveys; United States - epidemiology; Victimization; Victims of crime; Violence; White people; United States; United States > US; Alaska
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2022.0110

To examine the impact of racial/ethnic coding strategies on the estimated prevalence of risk behaviors among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) high school students. Data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2017 and 2019) were analyzed (N=28,422). Racial/ethnic data were coded to identify "Multiracial/ethnic AI/AN students" and "AI/AN alone students." The prevalence of persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, suicidality, and violence victimization were compared across the coding schemes and with non-Hispanic White students. Of students who selfidentified as AI/AN, one in six (18%) were AI/AN alone. The prevalence of many health risk behaviors was significantly higher among AI/AN students than non-Hispanic/Latino White students. The precision of the risk behavior prevalence estimates, however, varied considerably. How racial/ethnic data were coded affected the precision of calculations of risk behavior prevalence among AI/AN students, who are often multiracial and of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.