Biracial Asian Americans twice as likely to suffer from psychological disorder as monoracials

Washington, Aug 18 : Biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder as monoracial Asian Americans, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at the University of California, Davis, say that 34 percent of biracial individuals in a national survey had been diagnosed with a psychological disorder, such as anxiety, depression or substance abuse, versus 17 percent of monoracial individuals.

"Up to 2.4 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies as mixed race, and most of these individuals describe themselves as biracial," said Nolan Zane, a professor of psychology and Asian American studies at UC Davis.

"We cannot underestimate the importance of understanding the social, psychological and experiential differences that may increase the likelihood of psychological disorders among this fast-growing segment of the population, " he added.

The team looked at biracial Asian Americans from across the U.S., including 55 Filipino-Caucasians, 33 Chinese-Caucasians, 23 Japanese-Caucasians and 14 Vietnamese-Caucasians.

Zane said that future research should investigate the factors that explain the higher rate of diagnosed psychological disorders among biracial Asian Americans.

ANI