Applying a status perspective to racial/ethnic misclassification: Implications for health

This study applies a new taxonomy of racial/ethnic misclassification that considers shifts in racial/ethnic status to investigate physical and emotional responses to racial treatment among different misclassification types. It finds that the odds of reporting physical and emotional symptoms increase 3.3 and 2.9 times, respectively, among individuals who experience racial/ethnic status loss (i.e., are misclassified into a racial/ethnic category with lower status compared to their self-reported category) compared to their correctly classified counterparts. In contrast, individuals who experience racial/ethnic status gain (i.e., are misclassified into a racial/ethnic category with higher status compared to their self-reported category) are no more likely to suffer from symptoms compared to correctly classified individuals. The results suggest that being misclassified per se does not necessarily harm well-being, but the loss of social status inherent in some types of misclassification does.