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RACEBR
Race Bridge Variable (Pre-1997 OMB standards to Post-1997 OMB standards)
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Description

RACEBR is a "bridge variable" that permits users to bridge self-reported race data collected under the October 30, 1997 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, with self-reported race data collected under the pre-1997 Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. More information on the OMB's Directive 15 can be found at Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.

Comparability

OMB Guidelines 

With regard to bridging from the October 30, 1997 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting to "the Old OMB Standards," the 1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Public Use Data Release: NHIS Survey Description, Appendix II ("Race and Hispanic Origin in the 1999 NHIS"), says:

The OMB tabulation guidelines for the new race and ethnicity standards recognize that the complete transition from the old standards to the new standards will take some time, and that many federal statistical systems have a primary mission to track data trends over time. During this transitional period, known as the "bridge," it has been recommended that data systems tabulate data for publication under the new standards, while also providing a means for data users to bridge the new data back to the old standards. This will allow data users to examine differences, if any, in tabulating the data under the old and new standards, assist in the maintenance of data trends, and allow users to become accustomed to data tabulated under the new standard before the transition is complete.

Thus, self-reported racial data from 1999 forward collected under the October 30, 1997 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, has been recoded for public release, by the National Center for Health Statistics, consistent with the pre-1997 OMB standards.

While 1999 data may be bridged with either 1997 or 1998 data, it is not possible to create a bridge to pre-1997 data.

 

As noted in the 1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Public Use Data Release: NHIS Survey Description, Appendix II ("Race and Hispanic Origin in the 1999 NHIS"):

The 1999 NHIS public use data release contains one bridge race variable that was created in order to allow comparisons of 1999 data with data from previous years, and for merging the 1999 data with 1997 and/or 1998 data. To allow a complete bridge to data released prior to 1999, it would be necessary to include a category for "Asians and Other Pacific Islanders" for the bridging variable. This category would be created by merging the Asian and NHOPI (Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander) groups under the new guidelines. However, NCHS confidentiality standards do not permit NCHS to release data that might lead to the inadvertent identification of individual respondents to the survey (e.g., a combination of demographic, geographic and other characteristics of persons in relatively small population groups could lead to identification of an individual respondent). The NCHS Disclosure Review Board (DRB), consulting with DHIS (Division of health Interview Statistics) analysts, determined that the NHOPI category did not meet confidentiality standards for release. As a result, the NHIS cannot release the combined bridged category "API", as the cross classification of this group and the Asian group would identify the NHOPI. Thus, it is not possible to bridge between 1998 (and previous years) and 1999 for this group.

For 1999, "Unknown" in the NHIS public use files was subdivided into "Unknown-Refused," "Unknown-Not Ascertained," and "Unknown-Don't Know." "Unknown" in any form was dropped beginning in 2000.

 

The reason for this, as noted in the National Center for Health Statistics' Race and Hispanic Origin Information home page, is that in "the 2000 survey year, the NHIS began implementation of hot-deck imputation of race and Hispanic origin, in order to improve the overall quality of the data. Similar to the editing procedures, the imputation procedures are based on methods developed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Race and Hispanic origin are first imputed from within a household, if available. If not, race and Hispanic origin are imputed between households which are matched by Hispanic origin within a small geographic area." Thus, starting in 2000, all persons in the IPUMS NHIS are a member of some racial category.

Other Relevant Variables and Sources of Information 

There are several other variables researchers may find useful in conjunction with, or as an alternative to, RACEBR. One of the most important of those other variable is RACENEW (1999 forward) which provides information on self-reported, main racial background of all persons, using the October 30, 1997 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting. In addition, RACESR (1978 forward) provides information on self-reported, main racial background, using the pre-1997 Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting. RACEA (1969-1977) reports the interviewer-identified race of all persons, and for 1978 forward, the self-reported, main racial background of all persons using the pre-1997 Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting). RACEID (1969-1979) reports the interviewer-identified race of all persons.

Researchers might also want to utilize the variables relating to Hispanic ethnicity (HISPETH, (1976 forward)), or global region of birth (REGIONBR, 2000 forward) in their analyses.

More information about race and Hispanic ethnicity variables appearing in the NHIS can be found on the National Center for Health Statistic's Race and Hispanic Origin Information home page.

Universe

  • 1999-2018: All persons.

Availability

  • 1999-2018

Weights