On April 27, 2023, APA Services submitted comments in response to a request for information from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (PDF, 380KB)opens in new window about changes in standards and guidelines for collecting federal data on race and ethnicity. While endorsing the use of a new demographic category, “Middle Eastern/North African (MENA)” in federal surveys, APA Services suggested that additional scrutiny should be applied before OMB takes final steps to combine the two current questions on Hispanic identity and race into one question.
Responding on behalf of the association, Chief Advocacy Officer Katherine B. McGuire, MSc, wrote: “In moving forward with the change, it is important to stay attuned for difficulties that researchers may encounter describing the racial and ethnic composition of their samples precisely. Such considerations are critical as researchers rely upon federal data sets to answer pressing questions about the health and well-being of various populations as the country continues to diversify.”
OMB also asked respondents to comment on ways in which the federal government should collect detailed information on race and ethnicity. APA Services supports the collection of detailed data, despite the risk of small group sizes, and endorsed the use of a write-in feature when detailed standardized lists of ethnicity options are too impractical. The association suggested that OMB consider weighing and detailing the circumstances under which one approach or combined approaches is preferred, e.g. to communicate best practices. Given the value of detailed responses on race and ethnicity for research, the association also suggested that OMB consider encouraging agencies to combine/pool data across multiple data collection efforts. This strategy could alleviate difficulties in working with small populations.
On the addition of the MENA category, the comments cite the published research of APA member Gigi Awad, PhD, and colleagues: “Accurate and robust collection of ethnicity and race data is the first critical step in identifying and addressing disparities in health. The MENA population in the United States is often omitted from medical and health-related data collection altogether. Race and ethnicity disparity statistics often exclude the MENA population because either data are not being collected on this population or the group is not being disaggregated from the White race category. A growing body of research shows that MENA American individuals have both health and social patterns distinct from those of White individuals.”
The Advocacy Office partnered with association subject matter experts in our OMB response while also encouraging Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Serviceopens in new window), Division 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychologyopens in new window) and governance groups to submit comments.
For more information, contact Pat Kobor, deputy chief for scientific affairs advocacy.
