The Plight of Mixed Race Adolescents

Roland G. Fryer, Steven Levitt, Lisa Kahn and Jörg Spenkuch

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Over the past 40 years, the fraction of mixed race black-white births has increased nearly nine-fold. There is very little empirical evidence on how these children fare relative to their single-race counterparts. This paper describes basic facts about the behaviors and outcomes of black-white mixed race individuals. As one might expect, on a host of background and achievement characteristics as well as adult outcomes, mixed race individuals fall in between whites and blacks. When it comes to engaging in risky and anti-social adolescent behavior, however, mixed race adolescents are stark outliers compared to both blacks and whites. We argue that these behavioral patterns are most consistent with a two-sector Roy model, in which mixed race adolescents – not having a predetermined peer group – engage in more risky behaviors to be accepted.

Keywords: mixed race; biracial; black white race; adolescent behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-06-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/23099/1/MPRA_paper_23099.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Plight of Mixed-Race Adolescents (2012)
Working Paper: The Plight of Mixed Race Adolescents (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:23099

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