Correlates of self-reported and observer-reported Roma identification

The Roma are the largest stateless ethnic minority in Europe and the largest in Hungary. Roma identity may be endorsed by members of the community, or assigned by external observers, with no clear superiority of either definition. I used two waves of the unique Hungarian Youth Research (Magyar Ifjúság Kutatás) household survey (combined N=16015), which contains both self-reports and observer reports by surveyors about the Roma identity of participants, to 1) compare the size and overlap of the self-reported and observer-reported Roma community, and 2) assess with hypothesis-free, cross validated methods what characteristics are associated with self-reported and observer-reported Roma identity, and the mismatch of the two. I found that observers identified more respondents as Roma than self-reports, and both false negatives and false positives were common. Self-reports, observer-reports and false positives depend on similar variables, centered around large household size, financial deprivation, tolerance toward Roma, and limited adoption of digital technology. False negative observer reports (self-reported Roma considered non-Roma by surveyors) are predicted, however, mainly not by the absence of these characteristics, but by the adoption of cosmopolitan middle-class values such as tolerance towards foreigners, support for sustainable technologies and good health behavior. The results show that census reports about the Roma community are an underestimate of their public presence, either due to the ethnicization of poverty by external observers or identity concealment. Findings also indicate the presence of a large, well-assimilated Roma community who external observers fail to identify due to their non-stereotypical values and lifestyle.