Erich Kasten*

Professor, Practice for Psychotherapy and Neuropsychology, Am Krautacker 25, 23570 Travemuende, Germany

*Corresponding Author: Erich Kasten, Professor, Practice for Psychotherapy and Neuropsychology, Am Krautacker 25, 23570 Travemuende, Germany.

Received: December 22, 2025; Published: March 26, 2026

Objective: Similar to other identity disorders, there are individuals who feel uncomfortable in their assigned race and would prefer to belong to a different ethnic group. Although the term "race" is frowned upon today, the term "transracial identity" has become established.

Method: A questionnaire developed by the authors was used to learn about the motives and personality traits of this group.

Participants: Participants were recruited through a specific internet forum. After filtering out unreliable data, the responses of 273 participants could be analyzed. With 18.5 years, the average age was very young. 11.3% were female, 3.6% male, 29.9% binary and not-binary transgender and the remainder provided various gender options.

Results: The feeling of belonging to the wrong ethnic group began on average at around age 11. The desired target race rarely encompassed actual races, but mostly ethnic groups (e.g., Sinti and Roma, Native American Indians, Arabs) or even countries (e.g., Colombia, Greece, Japan), and sometimes religious groups (e.g., Judaism). Asian, European/Caucasian, and Black were the most frequently mentioned targets; these were supplemented by aracial, panracial, and fictional races. The most common reasons were fascination with the culture, a feeling of deep connection, improved body image through identification, and an existing social network within the target group. Most respondents stated they would be happier if they could belong to the target race. Some even expected a therapeutic effect. In their personality profiles, in average the participants tended rather to be introverted and emotionally unstable, but exhibited greater creativity and openness to new experiences.

Conclusions: There are indeed people who suffer from having been born into the wrong race or ethnic group. A transition to the target group may potentially lead to greater life satisfaction. A comparison with other identity disorders reveals many parallels.

Keywords: Transracial Identity; Identity Disorder; Race; Ethic Groups

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Citation

Citation: Erich Kasten. “Transracial Identity: A Profound Desire to Change the Ethnic Group, Race or Colour of the Skin". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 10.4 (2026): 42-57.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Erich Kasten. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.