The problems of mixed-race kids

Research shows that biracial children often have greater emotional problems than single race ones:

Students who consider themselves of more than one race are more likely to feel depressed, have trouble sleeping, skip school, smoke and drink alcohol, a study says.

Based on national surveys of 90,000 middle school and high school students, the study found that young people of mixed race are at higher risk for stress-related health problems.

For example, students who described their race as both black and white reported more difficulties than those who considered themselves solely black or solely white.

"It did not matter what races the students identified with, the risks were higher for all of them if they did not identify with a single race," said Dr. J. Richard Udry, principal author of the study published this week in the American Journal of Public Health.