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How should race be categorized? This article investigates the usefulness of having three categories to describe a black-white racial continuum, focusing on Brazil and the functional ability of elderly (60+) people there. Ironically, even as the U.S. census has started to acknowledge mixed race again, much social research in Brazil has begun not to. Using 1998 national household survey microdata (PNAD) for Brazil, we find it advantageous to use a three-category scheme that separates a mixed black-white (pardo) status from black or white when examining the functional ability of elders. We also find the tantalizing possibility of a crossover in which browns actually have more functional ability than white counterparts after controlling for many demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic factors.

"This paper reports on an attempt to use census data from Brazil in 1970 and 1980 to investigate a rise in household headship by unmarried mothers 15-49.... Demographic analysis can be useful in decomposing the change into that due to a changed propensity of women 15-49 years of age to be unmarried, to have children if unmarried, and to head their own household if an unmarried mother. This was further analyzed in terms of age, marital status (whether single, divorced/separated or widowed), region of residence, and urban-rural status....However, the research encountered data problems that make firm conclusions impossible...." This is a translation of a paper originally presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)