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Asian/White Hybrids Have More Mental Disease than Pure Asians


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#1 E.T.

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Posted 20 August 2008 - 01:16 AM


<H1 class=title> </H1><H2 class=subtitle></H2>Biracial Asian Americans and menal health

A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.

The study by researchers at the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at the University of California, Davis, will be reported in a 10 a.m. (EDT) poster session, "Clinical, Counseling, and Consulting," on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

[ . . . ]

Full text at http://www.eurekaler...--baa081108.php

#2 John_Ventureville

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Posted 21 August 2008 - 01:14 AM

E.T. wrote:
A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.
>>>

I remember reading about a similar study several years ago in Psychology Today magazine. About twenty years past I came across an in-depth article in a science magazine about the differences (despite obviously a majority of similarities) between the Asian and non-Asian brain (so much more would be known now). And so the results of this study do not totally surprise me. But it is still very sad and I hope genetic engineering can in time come to the rescue of what appears to be a case of genetic drift. I grew up in Alaska with two close friends who were bi-racial Caucasian/Asian and they eventually both developed fairly severe mental illness. It cost them so much and came close to destroying their lives.

John Grigg

Click HERE to rent this GENETICS advertising spot to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

#3 wanderer

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Posted 21 August 2008 - 06:32 AM

Wow. ... All I have to do to debunk these claims (not the evidence, just the way the evidence is interpreted) is tell people to look at Japan, where I have been studying and working for the last several years. It is full of 'Asian brains', and the levels of mental illness here are incredible. Most people don't seek any form of treatment or therapy, being that psychology and psychiatry are still in their infancy here, so it is likely that reported levels of mental illness in Japan are misleading.

I think, after looking at the big picture and examining 'Asian brains' around the globe, we will find that the connection between race and mental illness is much weaker than the connection between culture and mental illness.

It seems to me that the problem in America is that the majority of people rely on the most arbitrary and meaningless stuff to define themselves and everyone else (the color of one's skin, the kind of sex one likes, the deity one believes in, the place one was born, the 'culture' one grew up in, etc.). In this sort of society, bi-racial children are forcefully encouraged early on by society to decide whether they are black or white or Asian or whatever. (We can't possibly be unaware of this phenomenon anymore with Obama in the spotlight. From a genetic standpoint, he is no more black than he is white.) If one is one's race, however, this requires children to deny half of their being. ... Bi-racial children often have identity problems because of society's ridiculous focus on the arbitrary, and these problems can grow into full-blown mental illnesses as the children approach adulthood.

We have to be careful about how we interpret these results. The interpretation of the OP seems to indicate that he/she believes the study indicates the superiority of 'pure-blood' Asians. Most of the people at imminst are smart enough and sufficiently educated to see that this is baloney, however. There is no evidence for mental illness resulting from mixed-race DNA. It is far more reasonable to assume that mental illness can often result from identity problems, which, for bi-racial children, result from society expecting them to define themselves as 'black, white, or yellow'.

**************************************************

On a related note: Has anyone ever considered that perhaps maintaining 'racial purity' is similar to inbreeding?

The evolutionary purpose behind the incest taboo is to encourage us to look outside of our own family for genetic strengths we do not possess. By mating with those outside of one's family, more often than not the sum is greater than the parts. This is one reason that successive generations of humans appear to be getting bigger, stronger, smarter, and perhaps even better-looking. If anything, societal pressures and identity issues aside, it seems logical to me to assume that bi-racial children would not be genetically inferior, but genetically superior to 'pure-bloods'.

To the OP: I would be willing to bet vast sums of money that if I were to take a wife from each major race around the world, and you were to take as many wives of your own race, 1000 years down the road my descendants would be bigger, stronger, smarter, and much better-looking than yours.

I am only half-serious, of course. I don't currently have vast sums of money.

I really wish people would stop thinking like this. If people would have the strength of character to define themselves as themselves, to categorize themselves as... themselves, to realize that a person is the sum of his or her decisions, not the color of his or her skin, not his or her 'culture', not his or her sexual fetishes, not his or her religion, then the world would be a much better, more peaceful place. Stop with the racism already (when looking both at others AND at yourself).

Edited by wanderer, 21 August 2008 - 06:52 AM.


#4 wydell

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Posted 22 August 2008 - 04:14 AM

<H1 class=title> </H1><H2 class=subtitle></H2>Biracial Asian Americans and menal health

A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.

The study by researchers at the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at the University of California, Davis, will be reported in a 10 a.m. (EDT) poster session, "Clinical, Counseling, and Consulting," on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

[ . . . ]

Full text at http://www.eurekaler...--baa081108.php


Was there any comparison to full caucasian?

#5 niner

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Posted 22 August 2008 - 04:30 AM

If anything, societal pressures and identity issues aside, it seems logical to me to assume that bi-racial children would not be genetically inferior, but genetically superior to 'pure-bloods'.

Existence proof: Tiger Woods.

#6 E.T.

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Posted 22 August 2008 - 06:58 AM

I think political correctness is killing my brown race: by ignoring genetic differences between races, we create a "one size fits all" health plan. I've heard that most medical test subjects are Caucasian males. But what works for their bodies may not work for my brown race.

#7 salyavin

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Posted 22 August 2008 - 03:14 PM

I feel this study is questionable. I would like to see it expanded and to control for cultural differences and environments. In my admittedly anecdotal personal experience half's are no more or less well adjusted than anyone else. For example my brother is half Japanese and Caucasian and I'd say he's one of the most well adjusted people I know. This talk of Asian brains sounds like some unscientific 日本人論 (nihonjinron) which often has the most outlandish untested assumptions about differences. I am not claiming that there are no differences which there clearly are, but I do not feel they are so large. I do look forward to a new era of personalized medicine for even within "races" there are quite a few differences in response to medications etc.
I do feel E.T. is right on medicine being more heavily tested on Caucasian males. Regarding Wanderer's comments on undiagnosed mental illness in Japan, I agree it is undiagnosed and about psychology and psychiatry being in infancy. While there is a great deal of pressure on many people in Japan and you can certainly see disturbed people but I'm not sure it's higher than in the west. I can walk around a major American city and also see people whom appear mentally disturbed. I enjoyed much of Wanderer's comments.

I do feel it is worth studying cultural and racial differences. For example, I find myself curious about all the award winning Jewish scientists. Jewish people are not the majority yet they are overrepresented there, why is that? I'm suspect there are medical differences as well but we should just be very careful to control for environment, diet etc.

#8 solbanger

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Posted 22 August 2008 - 09:18 PM

"The study included information from 125 biracial Asian Americans from across the U.S., including 55 Filipino-Caucasians, 33 Chinese-Caucasians, 23 Japanese-Caucasians and 14 Vietnamese-Caucasians."

125 people? And they assume this is a large enough sample size to state "Asian/White Hybrids are twice as likely to have a mental disorder." They used interviews from 2,000 Asian Americans in total. Also biracial Asians may be more comfortable in admitting their problems than their counterparts.

#9 Ben

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Posted 24 August 2008 - 04:27 AM

I do feel it is worth studying cultural and racial differences. For example, I find myself curious about all the award winning Jewish scientists. Jewish people are not the majority yet they are overrepresented there, why is that? I'm suspect there are medical differences as well but we should just be very careful to control for environment, diet etc.


You don't want to come back home with a B if your a Jew. Trust me.

#10 spacetime

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Posted 24 August 2008 - 05:17 AM

Well Asian/White Hybrids typically tend to be crazy hot. I'm sure there's a fair bit of these hybrids in Asia so I wonder if they suffer the same increased rate of mental illness. Perhaps the rates could be even higher as they stand out more. I could see societal pressures wanting to categorize people into a race and forcing these half-in-halfs to choose one race to identify with. Hell, many government forms used to force you to declare one. And if generally, if you are half white you are not allowed to identify as caucasian unless you could easily pass as one and your surname did not betray your identity. I'm not sure if these identity issues would induce enough distress to cause mental illness or if it's even possible.

I'm sure there's some half-in-halfs who could relay their experiences. I should state that I don't mean any disrespect when I use hte term half-in-half, it's just the only term my feeble mind could come up with. I suppose I could use hybrids but that sounds vastly more ridiculous.

#11 E.T.

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Posted 26 August 2008 - 07:08 PM

I do feel it is worth studying cultural and racial differences. For example, I find myself curious about all the award winning Jewish scientists. Jewish people are not the majority yet they are overrepresented there, why is that? I'm suspect there are medical differences as well but we should just be very careful to control for environment, diet etc.


The evolution of intelligence


Natural genius?


Jun 2nd 2005
The Economist



The high intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews may be a result of their
persecuted past


THE idea that some ethnic groups may, on average, be more intelligent
than others is one of those hypotheses that dare not speak its name.
But Gregory Cochran, a noted scientific iconoclast, is prepared to say
it anyway. He is that rare bird, a scientist who works independently of
any institution. He helped popularise the idea that some diseases not
previously thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections,
which ruffled many scientific feathers when it was first suggested. And
more controversially still, he has suggested that homosexuality is
caused by an infection.

Even he, however, might tremble at the thought of what he is about to
do. Together with Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending, of the University
of Utah, he is publishing, in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of
Biosocial Science, a paper which not only suggests that one group of
humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process
that has brought this about. The group in question are Ashkenazi Jews.
The process is natural selection.

[ . . . ]

Full text at http://groups.google...ffca4830ff38528

#12 John_Ventureville

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Posted 28 August 2008 - 09:29 PM

wanderer wrote:
Wow. ... All I have to do to debunk these claims (not the evidence, just the way the evidence is interpreted) is tell people to look at Japan, where I have been studying and working for the last several years. It is full of 'Asian brains', and the levels of mental illness here are incredible. Most people don't seek any form of treatment or therapy, being that psychology and psychiatry are still in their infancy here, so it is likely that reported levels of mental illness in Japan are misleading.
>>>

This discussion is about people of Asian/non-Asian biracial genetic background. I have several friends who lived in Japan for years at a time and they told me of the social pressure cooker it could be. But I see that as largely environmental.

I have to admit to being bothered by terms such as "hybrid" or "mixed race" in terms of referring to biracial (and could we have a better word to replace "biracial"?) people. It almost smacks of "half-breed" or the shorter version of it, "breed." I wish instead of the term "human races" (I see all homo sapiens sapiens as members of the same race) we used something more accurate like "sub-types" or "lineage." I sometimes wonder if it will take having extra-terrestrials making regular public visits to the Earth for humanity to finally realize we are simply one race.

you continue:
I think, after looking at the big picture and examining 'Asian brains' around the globe, we will find that the connection between race and mental illness is much weaker than the connection between culture and mental illness.
>>>

I agree.

you continue:
It seems to me that the problem in America is that the majority of people rely on the most arbitrary and meaningless stuff to define themselves and everyone else (the color of one's skin, the kind of sex one likes, the deity one believes in, the place one was born, the 'culture' one grew up in, etc.). In this sort of society, bi-racial children are forcefully encouraged early on by society to decide whether they are black or white or Asian or whatever. (We can't possibly be unaware of this phenomenon anymore with Obama in the spotlight. From a genetic standpoint, he is no more black than he is white.) If one is one's race, however, this requires children to deny half of their being. ... Bi-racial children often have identity problems because of society's ridiculous focus on the arbitrary, and these problems can grow into full-blown mental illnesses as the children approach adulthood.
>>>

Things like the area you are born, religion and race are meaningless for defining oneself? LOL But I do agree that people should not use it to exclude and mistreat others. I remember my childhood best friend being torn between his Caucasian and Inuit heritage due to social pressures and discrimination. A respect for diversity (and required work/school indoctrination) was not an important thing then as it is now. I don't see that as a miracle cure, but I think it does help.

you continue:
We have to be careful about how we interpret these results. The interpretation of the OP seems to indicate that he/she believes the study indicates the superiority of 'pure-blood' Asians. Most of the people at imminst are smart enough and sufficiently educated to see that this is baloney, however. There is no evidence for mental illness resulting from mixed-race DNA. It is far more reasonable to assume that mental illness can often result from identity problems, which, for bi-racial children, result from society expecting them to define themselves as 'black, white, or yellow'.
>>>

I think the jury may still be out regarding biologically based mental illness and biracial Asians. But I do admit that even if it is a factor for their challenges, it is probably not as large as I had feared (though it is possible assumed environmental factors could be masking biological ones; future studies and progress in medical technology may prove this down the road).

**************************************************

you wrote:
On a related note: Has anyone ever considered that perhaps maintaining 'racial purity' is similar to inbreeding?

The evolutionary purpose behind the incest taboo is to encourage us to look outside of our own family for genetic strengths we do not possess. By mating with those outside of one's family, more often than not the sum is greater than the parts. This is one reason that successive generations of humans appear to be getting bigger, stronger, smarter, and perhaps even better-looking. If anything, societal pressures and identity issues aside, it seems logical to me to assume that bi-racial children would not be genetically inferior, but genetically superior to 'pure-bloods'.

To the OP: I would be willing to bet vast sums of money that if I were to take a wife from each major race around the world, and you were to take as many wives of your own race, 1000 years down the road my descendants would be bigger, stronger, smarter, and much better-looking than yours.

I am only half-serious, of course. I don't currently have vast sums of money.
>>>

Or a wife from each major race? heehee The following link from the Psychology Today online supports your point:

http://www.psycholog...221-000001.html

you wrote:
I really wish people would stop thinking like this. If people would have the strength of character to define themselves as themselves, to categorize themselves as... themselves, to realize that a person is the sum of his or her decisions, not the color of his or her skin, not his or her 'culture', not his or her sexual fetishes, not his or her religion, then the world would be a much better, more peaceful place. Stop with the racism already (when looking both at others AND at yourself).
>>>

You wrote "stop with the racism already..." I don't take kindly to slander. And I bet the other people around here don't either. In the future please be more careful with your words.

The background/foundation of a person is in large part the religion (or lack of it), ethics, race, socio-economic and ethnic/religious/national culture, etc., that they started out with in life. And so a major task of adulthood is to take a focused and introspective look at the sum parts and decide (usually over time, not all at once) what is to be retained and what must be walked away from.

The link below goes to a research summary that indicates births of biracial children do have somewhat higher rates of certain birth defects. But further studies will certainly be needed.

http://www3.intersci...l...=1&SRETRY=0


John Grigg

Click HERE to rent this GENETICS advertising spot to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

#13 missminni

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Posted 17 September 2008 - 07:31 PM

Wow. ... All I have to do to debunk these claims (not the evidence, just the way the evidence is interpreted) is tell people to look at Japan, where I have been studying and working for the last several years. It is full of 'Asian brains', and the levels of mental illness here are incredible. Most people don't seek any form of treatment or therapy, being that psychology and psychiatry are still in their infancy here, so it is likely that reported levels of mental illness in Japan are misleading.

I think, after looking at the big picture and examining 'Asian brains' around the globe, we will find that the connection between race and mental illness is much weaker than the connection between culture and mental illness.

It seems to me that the problem in America is that the majority of people rely on the most arbitrary and meaningless stuff to define themselves and everyone else (the color of one's skin, the kind of sex one likes, the deity one believes in, the place one was born, the 'culture' one grew up in, etc.). In this sort of society, bi-racial children are forcefully encouraged early on by society to decide whether they are black or white or Asian or whatever. (We can't possibly be unaware of this phenomenon anymore with Obama in the spotlight. From a genetic standpoint, he is no more black than he is white.) If one is one's race, however, this requires children to deny half of their being. ... Bi-racial children often have identity problems because of society's ridiculous focus on the arbitrary, and these problems can grow into full-blown mental illnesses as the children approach adulthood.

We have to be careful about how we interpret these results. The interpretation of the OP seems to indicate that he/she believes the study indicates the superiority of 'pure-blood' Asians. Most of the people at imminst are smart enough and sufficiently educated to see that this is baloney, however. There is no evidence for mental illness resulting from mixed-race DNA. It is far more reasonable to assume that mental illness can often result from identity problems, which, for bi-racial children, result from society expecting them to define themselves as 'black, white, or yellow'.

**************************************************

On a related note: Has anyone ever considered that perhaps maintaining 'racial purity' is similar to inbreeding?

The evolutionary purpose behind the incest taboo is to encourage us to look outside of our own family for genetic strengths we do not possess. By mating with those outside of one's family, more often than not the sum is greater than the parts. This is one reason that successive generations of humans appear to be getting bigger, stronger, smarter, and perhaps even better-looking. If anything, societal pressures and identity issues aside, it seems logical to me to assume that bi-racial children would not be genetically inferior, but genetically superior to 'pure-bloods'.


To the OP: I would be willing to bet vast sums of money that if I were to take a wife from each major race around the world, and you were to take as many wives of your own race, 1000 years down the road my descendants would be bigger, stronger, smarter, and much better-looking than yours.

I am only half-serious, of course. I don't currently have vast sums of money.

I really wish people would stop thinking like this. If people would have the strength of character to define themselves as themselves, to categorize themselves as... themselves, to realize that a person is the sum of his or her decisions, not the color of his or her skin, not his or her 'culture', not his or her sexual fetishes, not his or her religion, then the world would be a much better, more peaceful place. Stop with the racism already (when looking both at others AND at yourself).

Exactly. When I was pregnant my obstetrician pointed that very issue out to me being that my husband and I had very varied ethnic backgrounds. The more varied the ethnic mix of the child the healthier they are. You weed out genetic weaknesses that way. Just like with dogs....mutts are usually smarter and healthier. Having said that, I have two of the most beautiful pure bred american bulldogs...with skin allergies and health issues that are breed specific.




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