‘I'm American,not Japanese!’: the struggle for racial citizenship among later-generation Japanese Americans

Abstract

As one of the oldest Asian American groups in the USA, most Japanese Americans are of the third and fourth generations and have become well integrated in mainstream American society. However, they are still racialized as foreigners simply because of their Asian appearance. Their Asian phenotype continues to have a foreigner connotation because of large-scale immigration from Asia and an American national identity that is racially defined as white. This paper analyses how later-generation Japanese Americans are racialized as outsiders in their daily interaction with mainstream Americans, which is often accompanied by essentialized assumptions that they are also culturally foreign. In response, they engage in everyday struggles for racial citizenship by demanding inclusion in the national community as Americans despite their racial differences. It is uncertain whether such attempts to contest their racialization will cause current mono-racial notions of American identity to be reconsidered in more inclusive and multiracial ways.     

Acculturation and end-of-life decision making: comparison of Japanese and Japanese-American focus groups

Variation in decision-making about end-of-life care among ethnic groups creates clinical conflicts. In order to understand changes in preferences for end-of-life care among Japanese who immigrate to the United States, we conducted 18 focus groups with 122 participants: 65 English-speaking Japanese Americans, 29 Japanese-speaking Japanese Americans and 28 Japanese living in Japan. Negative feelings toward living in adverse health states and receiving life-sustaining treatment in such states permeated all three groups. Fear of being meiwaku, a physical, psychological or financial caregiving burden on loved ones, was a prominent concern. They preferred to die pokkuri (popping off) before they become end stage or physically frail. All groups preferred group-oriented decision-making with family. Although advance directives were generally accepted, Japanese participants saw written directives as intrusive whereas Japanese Americans viewed them mainly as tools to reduce conflict created by dying person's wishes and a family's kazoku no jo--responsibility to sustain the dying patient. These findings suggest that in the United States Japanese cultural values concerning end-of-life care and decision-making process are largely preserved.     

Mass culture versus class culture: some reflections on The Asian American Achievement Paradox

ABSTRACT

This comment argues that scholars have been too quick to dismiss Confucian culture as an explanation for the exceptional educational attainment of second generation Asian Americans. It shows that, for centuries, all classes in Confucian societies perceived education as the engine of upward mobility, not merely elites. For this reason, the children of working class Chinese and Japanese immigrants outperformed whites already before World War II. Furthermore, the educational outcomes of non-Confucian Asian Americans turn out to be unexceptional after their family backgrounds are taken into account. Thus, to the extent that Asian American schooling levels are unusual, it seems premature to attribute that achievement to class culture rather than mass culture.     

Benzene Uptake and Glutathione S-transferase T1 Status as Determinants of S-Phenylmercapturic Acid in Cigarette Smokers in the Multiethnic Cohort

Research from the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) demonstrated that, for the same quantity of cigarette smoking, African Americans and Native Hawaiians have a higher lung cancer risk than Whites, while Latinos and Japanese Americans are less susceptible. We collected urine samples from 2,239 cigarette smokers from five different ethnic groups in the MEC and analyzed each sample for S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), a specific biomarker of benzene uptake. African Americans had significantly higher (geometric mean [SE] 3.69 [0.2], p<0.005) SPMA/ml urine than Whites (2.67 [0.13]) while Japanese Americans had significantly lower levels than Whites (1.65 [0.07], p<0.005). SPMA levels in Native Hawaiians and Latinos were not significantly different from those of Whites. We also conducted a genome-wide association study in search of genetic risk factors related to benzene exposure. The glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1) deletion explained between 14.2–31.6% (p = 5.4x10^-157) and the GSTM1 deletion explained between 0.2%-2.4% of the variance (p = 1.1x10^-9) of SPMA levels in these populations. Ethnic differences in levels of SPMA remained strong even after controlling for the effects of these two deletions. These results demonstrate the powerful effect of GSTT1 status on SPMA levels in urine and show that uptake of benzene in African American, White, and Japanese American cigarette smokers is consistent with their lung cancer risk in the MEC. While benzene is not generally considered a cause of lung cancer, its metabolite SPMA could be a biomarker for other volatile lung carcinogens in cigarette smoke.     

Schooling Fish Under Attack Are Not All Equal: Some Lead,Others Follow

Animal groups such as fish schools, bird flocks and insect swarms appear to move so synchronously that they have long been considered egalitarian, leaderless units. In schooling fish, video observations of their spatial-temporal organization have, however, shown that anti-predator manoeuvres are not perfectly synchronous and that individuals have spatial preferences within the school. Nonetheless, when facing life-or-death situations, it is not known whether schooling fish react to a threat following a random or a hierarchically-based order. Using high-speed video analysis, here we show that schooling fish (Golden grey mullet, Liza aurata) evade a threat in a non-random order, therefore individuals that are first or last to react tend to do so repeatedly over sequential stimulations. Furthermore, startle order is strongly correlated with individual positional preferences. Because school members are known to follow individuals that initiate a manoeuvre, early responders are likely to exert the strongest influence on the escape strategy of the whole school. Our results present new evidence of the intrinsic heterogeneity among school members and provide new rules governing the collective motion of gregarious animals under predator attack.     

Ethnicity and human genetic linkage maps

Human genetic linkage maps are based on rates of recombination across the genome. These rates in humans vary by the sex of the parent from whom alleles are inherited, by chromosomal position, and by genomic features, such as GC content and repeat density. We have examined--for the first time, to our knowledge--racial/ethnic differences in genetic maps of humans. We constructed genetic maps based on 353 microsatellite markers in four racial/ethnic groups: whites, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and East Asians (Chinese and Japanese). These maps were generated using 9,291 subjects from 2,900 nuclear families who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded Family Blood Pressure Program, the largest sample used for map construction to date. Although the maps for the different groups are generally similar, we did find regional and genomewide differences across ethnic groups, including a longer genomewide map for African Americans than for other populations. Some of this variation was explained by genotyping artifacts--namely, null alleles (i.e., alleles with null phenotypes) at a number of loci--and by ethnic differences in null-allele frequencies. In particular, null alleles appear to be the likely explanation for the excess map length in African Americans. We also found that nonrandom missing data biases map results. However, we found regions on chromosome 8p and telomeric segments with significant ethnic differences and a suggestive interval on chromosome 12q that were not due to genotype artifacts. The difference on chromosome 8p is likely due to a polymorphic inversion in the region. The results of our investigation have implications for inferences of possible genetic influences on human recombination as well as for future linkage studies, especially those involving populations of nonwhite ethnicity.     

The concentration of Asian Americans in STEM and health-care occupations: an intergenerational comparison

This article examines the concentration of Asian Americans in the STEM and health-care fields of study and occupations by generation, ethnic group and gender, compared to white Americans, based on the 2009–11 American Community Surveys. By making a generational comparison, it suggests that the selective migration of Asian immigrants is the most important factor to their concentration in these fields of study and occupations. Asian immigrants as a whole are highly selective in these fields of study and occupations, compared to white Americans, with some Asian groups showing much higher levels of concentration. While younger-generation Asian groups whose immigrant generations have an extremely high concentration have experienced significant reductions in STEM, the other groups have experienced moderate or significant increases. All younger-generation Asian groups apart from Filipino have significantly or moderately higher levels of representation in non-nurse health-care occupations than their immigrant counterparts.     

Metabolic Populational in vivo Construction of Tumors under Conditions of Individual Genetic Predisposition: Communication II

The results of the analysis of the literature data on the ethnic distribution of xenobiotic biotransformation phenotypes and on tumor incidence (for all organs in total) are presented from the standpoint of the concept by L.A. Piruzyan [1]. For a number of ethnic groups, a possibility is theoretically shown of the metabolic populational in vivo construction of tumors (depending on the genetically determined metabolic status of certain populations), i.e., of the ethnic dependence of tumors. In the American population, the higher incidence of the slow acetylation phenotype than in Swedes and in the Chinese was associated with the higher incidence of morbidity. In populations of the English, the Germans, the Swedes, and the Swiss, characterized by a low incidence of the slow acetylation phenotype, the tumor morbidity was higher than in the Chinese with a higher incidence of slow acetylators. Americans are more predisposed to tumors than the Swedes. Caucasoids with either the slow or the fast acetylation phenotype are more predisposed to tumors than the Chinese. The prevalence of the fast acetylation phenotype in the Chinese and Japanese populations was associated with the lower cancer morbidity: in the Chinese compared to Australians, Danes, Swedes; in the Japanese compared to Australians, Americans, the English, Danes, Canadians, the German, the Portuguese, Finns, Czechs, and Slovaks. The lower incidence of the slow acetylators in the Chinese than in Americans, English, Danes, Canadians, Germans, Finns, Czechs, Slovaks, and Swedes was associated with a lower rate of morbidity. In the Portuguese, the higher incidence of fast acetylators than in Danes and the lower incidence of slow acetylators than in Czechs, Slovaks, and Afro-Americans was associated with the lower rate of morbidity. In the Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese with the lower incidence of slow acetylators than in the Madras Negroids, the morbidity was higher. In Australians and Swedes, the greater fraction of slow acetylators was associated with a lower morbidity than in Afro-Americans. In the Russian population of St. Petersburg, the higher incidence of slow acetylators was associated with the lower morbidity compared to the Hong Kong Chinese. Among Poles, the slow acetylator incidence was higher and the morbidity was lower than in the Portuguese. The Japanese and the Chinese (fast acetylators) are less predisposed to cancer than the above-listed Caucasoids; among Caucasoids, the Portuguese (fast acetylators) were less predisposed to cancer than the Danes, Czechs, Slovaks, and Afro-Americans. The tumor predisposition of the Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese was higher than the predisposition of the Madras Negroids. Australians, Russians (St. Petersburg residents), and Poles were less predisposed to cancer than Afro-Americans, the Hong Kong Chinese, and the Portuguese. The morbidity of the Madras Negroids with the higher incidence of the slow acetylation phenotype was lower than the morbidity of the Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese. The incidence of the slow acetylation phenotype in Afro-Americans was lower than in the Australians and Swedes and higher than in the Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese; this was associated with the higher cancer morbidity, i.e., with the increased predisposition to tumors. The lower incidence of the T1-0 phenotype of glutathione-S-transferase in the English than in the Singapore and Shanghai Chinese and in the Japanese was associated with the higher morbidity of the English. In the Singapore Chinese, the higher incidence of the M1-0 and of T1-0 phenotypes of glutathione-S-transferase than in the Japanese was associated with the increased morbidity. In some populations, different morbidities were associated with similar incidences of one or another metabolic phenotype, or different phenotype incidences in different populations were associated with similar morbidities. The morbidity under consideration did not include chemical carcinogenesis, i.e., the conversion of procarcinogens to true carcinogens or the carcinogen inactivation. Because the results presented are preliminary, this article outlines the directions of theoretical studies that are required for definite conclusions concerning the ethnic dependence of tumors.     

‘We've got team spirit!’: ethnic community building and Japanese American youth basketball leagues

This article examines the role co-ethnic youth basketball leagues play in shaping ethnic community among third- and fourth-generation Japanese American youth. With dwindling rates of Japanese immigration, increased rates of out-marriage, and fewer cultural hubs available, finding a thriving ethnic community has become a particular challenge for later-generation Japanese Americans. Drawing from ethnographic data, I argue that even among highly ‘assimilated’ Japanese Americans, youth basketball leagues serve as an active space for constructing and preserving ethnic community and social networks. I demonstrate how through social, cultural, and spatial interactions facilitated by sports, some Japanese Americans have found a sense of ethnic ‘connectedness’ within basketball leagues while performing their own renditions of ethnic identity that is simultaneously attentive to fluid local and global connections. These findings illuminate the role and importance of sport through which Japanese Americans challenges the racial contours of American-ness and belonging while claiming their place, locally, nationally, and transnationally.     

Exogamy and Change in the Biosocial Structure of a Modern Urban Population

Change is traced in the biosocial structure of the Japanese American population of Seattle-King County, Washington, from that of a deme to a state approaching panmixis with surrounding American populations. Data from 2,767 marriage license applications of Japanese Americans between 1930 and 1975 were used to calculate rates of racial exogamy. Rates rose from prewar levels of less than 1% to over 50% in 1975. The total Japanese American county population was subdivided into a nuclear group, tracing its origins back to the original founding immigrants, and a nonnuclear group which has migrated into the area since World War II. Until 1965, the nonnuclear group consistently led the nuclear group in exogamous marriages. In both groups, females consistently out-married more frequently than did the males. Further analysis of community exogamy, i.e., nuclear member marriage to a nonnuclear Japanese American, showed that this type of exogamy within the second generation preceded the high rates of racial exogamy characterizing the marriage patterns of the third generation. Familial analysis suggested that the maternal kin ties of nuclear population females continue to influence marriage choice of their offspring. The patterns of increasing racial exogamy for Japanese Americans are examined against their rise in socioeconomic status, [biosocial structure, exogamy, population]     

Phylogenetic relationships among JC virus strains in Japanese/Koreans and Native Americans speaking Amerind or Na-Dene

Many genetic studies using human mtDNA or the Y chromosome have been conducted to elucidate the relationships among the three Native American groups speaking Amerind, Na-Dene, and Eskimo-Aleut. Human polyomavirus JC (JCV) may also help to gain insights into this issue. JCV isolates are classified into more than 10 geographically distinct genotypes (designated subtypes here), which were generated by splits in the three superclusters, Types A, B, and C. A particular subtype of JCV (named MY) belonging to Type B is spread in both Japanese/Koreans and Native Americans speaking Amerind or Na-Dene. In this study, we evaluated the phylogenetic relationships among MY isolates worldwide, using the whole-genome approach, with which a highly reliable phylogeny of JCV isolates can be reconstructed. Thirty-six complete sequences belonging to MY (10 from Japanese/Koreans, 24 from Native Americans, and 2 from others), together with 54 belonging to other subtypes around the world, were aligned and subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood methods. In the resultant phylogenetic trees, the MY sequences diverged into two Japanese/Korean and five Native American clades with high bootstrap probabilities. Two of the Native American clades contained isolates mainly from Na-Denes and the others contained isolates mainly from Amerinds. The Na-Dene clades were not clustered together, nor were the Amerind clades. In contrast, the two Japanese/Korean clades were clustered at a high bootstrap probability. We concluded that there is no distinction between Amerinds and Na-Denes in terms of indigenous JCVs, although they are linguistically distinguished from each other.     

Phylogenetic Relationships Among JC Virus Strains in Japanese/Koreans and Native Americans Speaking Amerind or Na-Dene

Abstract Many genetic studies using human mtDNA or the Y chromosome have been conducted to elucidate the relationships among the three Native American groups speaking Amerind, Na-Dene, and Eskimo-Aleut. Human polyomavirus JC (JCV) may also help to gain insights into this issue. JCV isolates are classified into more than 10 geographically distinct genotypes (designated subtypes here), which were generated by splits in the three superclusters, Types A, B, and C. A particular subtype of JCV (named MY) belonging to Type B is spread in both Japanese/Koreans and Native Americans speaking Amerind or Na-Dene. In this study, we evaluated the phylogenetic relationships among MY isolates worldwide, using the whole-genome approach, with which a highly reliable phylogeny of JCV isolates can be reconstructed. Thirty-six complete sequences belonging to MY (10 from Japanese/Koreans, 24 from Native Americans, and 2 from others), together with 54 belonging to other subtypes around the world, were aligned and subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood methods. In the resultant phylogenetic trees, the MY sequences diverged into two Japanese/Korean and five Native American clades with high bootstrap probabilities. Two of the Native American clades contained isolates mainly from Na-Denes and the others contained isolates mainly from Amerinds. The Na-Dene clades were not clustered together, nor were the Amerind clades. In contrast, the two Japanese/Korean clades were clustered at a high bootstrap probability. We concluded that there is no distinction between Amerinds and Na-Denes in terms of indigenous JCVs, although they are linguistically distinguished from each other.     

Population genetics of coagulant factor IX: frequencies of two DNA polymorphisms in five ethnic groups.

Two frequently used restriction-enzyme polymorphisms (RFLPs) of coagulant F.IX, TaqI and XmnI, have been examined in five ethnic groups: white Americans, black Americans, East Indians, Chinese, and Malays. There is a distinct "cline" in the frequencies of both polymorphisms, from white Americans to Malays. The rarer type 2 alleles of both polymorphisms, in which middle recognition sites are present--and which in our sample reach their highest frequencies in white Americans--are marginally higher in four groups of Europeans previously reported by others. The frequencies of the rarer alleles are significantly higher in Europeans than in black Americans and East Indians, and these alleles are essentially absent in Chinese and Malays. The frequency of heterozygosity diminishes in the same order, being zero in Malays for both polymorphisms. The polymorphisms are in strong linkage disequilibrium, and in all groups the type 1 allele for TaqI is disproportionately accompanied by the type 1 allele for XmnI. The paucity of type 2 alleles and the low rate of heterozygosity in four non-European groups suggest that the polymorphisms will be of little diagnostic value south of Gibraltar and east of Suez. This prediction is confirmed by the observed haplotype frequencies in the black American and the Oriental groups.     

Relative risks of radiation-associated cancer: comparison of second cancer in therapeutically irradiated populations with the Japanese atomic bomb survivors

In this paper the radiation-associated relative risks of second primary cancer incidence in groups treated for first primary cancer by radiotherapy are compared with radiation-associated relative risk estimates in the Japanese atomic bomb survivor cancer incidence data. For four cancer sites, namely lung cancer, bone cancer, ovarian cancer and leukaemia, the relative risks in the comparable (age at exposure, time since exposure, sex matched) subsets of the Japanese data are significantly greater than those in the majority of second cancer studies. Even when the differences between the relative risks in the Japanese atomic bomb survivors and the medical series do not approach conventional levels of statistical significance, relative risks tend to be higher in the Japanese data than in the second cancer studies. At least for leukaemia, the discrepancy between the Japanese and second cancer risks can be largely explained by cell- sterilisation effects. There are few indications of modification of radiation-associated second cancer relative risk among those treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, nor are there strong indications of modification of radiation- associated relative risk by heritable genetic factors. If anything, there is evidence that second cancer relative excess risks are lower among those patients with cancer-prone disorders than among non-susceptible patients. However, the higher underlying cancer risk in some of these medically exposed populations should also be considered, in particular for those with cancer-prone conditions, so that the absolute excess risk is sometimes higher than in the Japanese data. Received: 14 May 1999 / Accepted in revised form: 17 September 1999     

Early childhood length-for-age is associated with the work status of Filipino young adults

Most studies on childhood health and human capital in developing countries examine how early childhood linear growth relates to later human productivity as reflected in schooling success. Work status is another important human capital outcome related to early child health. This study examines the relationship of linear growth restriction at 2 years of age to work status in young adults who have, for the most part completed their schooling and further explores whether this relationship differs by gender. The analysis sample of 1795 was drawn from participants in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, which followed individuals from birth to age 20-22 years. Work status in 2005 was represented by three categories: not working, working in an informal job, and working in a formal job. Formal work in the Philippines, as in most countries, is associated with regular hours, higher wages and benefits. Analyses were stratified by gender and current school enrolment, and adjusted for socioeconomic status and attained years of schooling. Among males no longer in school, higher length-for-age Z-score (LAZ) at age 2 was associated with a 40% increase in likelihood of formal work compared to not working. In females, each 1 unit increase in LAZ was associated with 0.2 higher likelihood of formal vs. informal work. No significant associations were observed in the small sample of young adults still in school. To improve job prospects of young adults, it is important to provide proper nutrition in early childhood and adequate educational opportunities during schooling years.     

Mercapturic Acids Derived from the Toxicants Acrolein and Crotonaldehyde in the Urine of Cigarette Smokers from Five Ethnic Groups with Differing Risks for Lung Cancer

The Multiethnic Cohort epidemiology study has clearly demonstrated that, compared to Whites and for the same number of cigarettes smoked, African Americans and Native Hawaiians have a higher risk for lung cancer whereas Latinos and Japanese Americans have a lower risk. Acrolein and crotonaldehyde are two important constituents of cigarette smoke which have well documented toxic effects and could play a role in lung cancer etiology. Their urinary metabolites 3-hydroxypropylmercapturic acid (3-HPMA) and 3-hydroxy-1-methylpropylmercapturic acid (HMPMA), respectively, are validated biomarkers of acrolein and crotonaldehyde exposure. We quantified levels of 3-HPMA and HMPMA in the urine of more than 2200 smokers from these five ethnic groups, and also carried out a genome wide association study using blood samples from these subjects. After adjusting for age, sex, creatinine, and total nicotine equivalents, geometric mean levels of 3-HPMA and HMPMA were significantly different in the five groups (P<0.0001). Native Hawaiians had the highest and Latinos the lowest geometric mean levels of both 3-HPMA and HMPMA. Levels of 3-HPMA and HMPMA were 3787 and 2759 pmol/ml urine, respectively, in Native Hawaiians and 1720 and 2210 pmol/ml urine in Latinos. These results suggest that acrolein and crotonaldehyde may be involved in lung cancer etiology, and that their divergent levels may partially explain the differing risks of Native Hawaiian and Latino smokers. No strong signals were associated with 3-HPMA in the genome wide association study, suggesting that formation of the glutathione conjugate of acrolein is mainly non-enzymatic, while the top significant association with HMPMA was located on chromosome 12 near the TBX3 gene, but its relationship to HMPMA excretion is not clear.     

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Early-Life Mortality in the United States

U.S. early-life (ages 1–24) deaths are tragic, far too common, and largely preventable. Yet demographers have focused scant attention on U.S. early-life mortality patterns, particularly as they vary across racial and ethnic groups. We employed the restricted-use 1999–2011 National Health Interview Survey–Linked Mortality Files and hazard models to examine racial/ethnic differences in early-life mortality. Our results reveal that these disparities are large, strongly related to differences in parental socioeconomic status, and expressed through different causes of death. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks experience 60 percent and Mexican Americans 32 percent higher risk of death over the follow-up period, with demographic controls. Our finding that Mexican Americans experience higher early-life mortality risk than non-Hispanic whites differs from much of the literature on adult mortality. We also show that these racial/ethnic differences attenuate with controls for family structure and especially with measures of socioeconomic status. For example, higher mortality risk among Mexican Americans than among non-Hispanic whites is no longer significant once we controlled for mother’s education or family income. Our results strongly suggest that eliminating socioeconomic gaps across groups is the key to enhanced survival for children and adolescents in racial/ethnic minority groups.     

Human T-lymphotropic virus type I seroprevalence among Japanese Americans.

The epidemiology of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection is not well defined in Japanese Americans. This impairs using approaches that could reduce viral transmission and monitor carriers for the disease. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and p21e recombinant Western blot testing, HTLV-I antibody was measured in unlinked samples from Japanese-American patients at 4 physicians'' offices in San Francisco, California. Of 442 patients, 4 (0.9%; 95% confidence interval 0.25%, 2.3%) were confirmed seropositive, all with an HTLV-I rather than an HTLV-II pattern on Western blot. Seroprevalence was highest among the issei or immigrant generation (3/230 or 1.3%) compared with the second-generation nisei (1/191 or 0.5%) or third-generation sansei (0 of 17). Prevalence did not differ by age or sex, although the number of positive subjects in each subgroup was small. Of 88 patients with familial origins in endemic areas of southern Japan, none were seropositive. In this sample of Japanese Americans, HTLV-I seroprevalence was lower than in residents of endemic southern Japan but higher than among American blood donors. The prevalence was most similar to that in nonendemic areas of Japan. The public health implications of HTLV-I infection among Japanese Americans are discussed.     

Group size and group income as influences on marriage patterns in Hawaii

This paper analyzes the association of ethnic group size and median ethnic group income with the percentages of cross-ethnic marriages and combinations of marriages of each of the 5 major racial/ethnic groups in Hawaii. The data cover marriages that took place from 1975-1977 in Hawaii's 5 major ethnic groups: 1) Caucasian, 2) Chinese, 3) Filipino, 4) Japanese, and 5) Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. The number of Caucasians marrying in Hawaii are severely inflated by military and tourist marriages. Chinese (highest median income) and Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians (lowest median income) show the highest percentages of outmarriage. The number of persons making up given groups appears to play a role; larger groups have lower outmarriage rates. Since 19 of 20 potential marriage partners a Chinese person meets are of another racial group, as compared to 2 of 3 for Caucasians or Japanese, it is hardly surprising that the Chinese outmarry more often than other groups. Data show a tendency to an East-West split; Chinese-Japanese marriages are overrepresented, and marriages of Japanese men to Caucasian women are underrepresented. However, marriages of Caucasian males to Chinese women are also overrepresented. Also, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos tend to be more representative of the West than Caucasians are. The authors conclude that cultural attributes likely to lead to a given level of income, rather than income per se, influence the probability of persons marrying a member of a given racial/ethnic group other than their own.     

Ethnic differences in atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and lipid metabolism

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Comparison of risk factors and cardiovascular disease among racial and ethnic groups is a powerful approach to study genetics and lifestyle, or environmental interactions. RECENT FINDINGS: Most, mean or median, cardiovascular risk factor levels are similar among black and white people. There are much greater differences in the distribution of risk factor level within a specific race and ethnic group than between US populations. There are also very large differences in levels of risk factors for coronary heart disease between specific ethnic migrant populations such as comparing black people in Africa with those in the US, or Japanese people in Japan with those in Hawaii and California. Differences in distribution of risk factors and disease between race and ethnic group are a function of the frequency of specific genotypes and interaction with environmental factors. Several of the most important differences between racial groups are higher blood pressure, lower triglycerides and higher HDL cholesterol among blacks, higher prevalence of diabetes and insulin resistance among Mexican Americans and American Indians, and higher triglyceride levels among the Japanese. SUMMARY: Further studies of racial and ethnic differences should focus on unique phenotypes and genotypic differences, international and migrant studies and large enough sample sizes to provide robust results. The sprinkling of a percentage of minority participants in each study is worthless. The study of racial and ethnic differences in disease and detection of risk factor levels must be based on solid hypotheses that can evaluate the interaction of lifestyle and possible genetic attributes. Many of the reported ethnic differences in risk factors and disease in US populations are primarily a function of differences in education, socioeconomic variations, and utilization of preventive and clinical treatments.