Citation

Babbar J. Transcult. Psychiatry 2009; 46(3): 531-535.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, McGill University, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1363461509345382

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Systems of ethno-racial categorization have a long and varied history in different countries, their transformations often closely linked to changes in the socio-political landscape. In the United States the ethnic and racial classification system used by the federal government consists of five broad categories. In this article, I examine the problematic characteristics of the "Asian" category, a rubric that encompasses very disparate ethnic groups and nationalities. I suggest that the use of ethno-racial categories such as “Asian” in mental health research has a negative impact on the validity of findings: while research data is often collected from only a few of these ethnic groups, study results are, in effect generalized, and applied to the broad "Asian" category as a whole.However, before addressing these consequences of overly broad ethno-racial categories, it is important to briefly trace the origins of their current usage in the United States.