A note on the term Hispanic: While not necessarily the term used by people of Latin American or Indigenous descent living in the U.S., it is the term sometimes used by entities conducting scientific and academic research, and thus referenced in this report.
Identifying the race or ethnicity of a person or group of participants, along with other sociodemographic variables, may provide information about participants included in a study and the potential generalizability of the results of a study and may identify important disparities and inequities. The term “Black” refers to people of the African diaspora, no matter their nationality. While sometimes “African American” refers to people who were born in the United States and have African ancestry. While many people use the terms interchangeably. Black and African American are not always interchangeable. African American was typically used to refer to descendants of people from Africa who were enslaved. Some people may identify as African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino and many other races and ethnicities. Some people prefer the term Black because they do not identify as African and/or American, because they can’t trace their lineage back to Africa or because being Black isn’t just about race, it’s an entire culture. Some still identify as Black and African American and use the terms interchangeably for themselves, depending on the situation.