DNA test to determine my ethnicity ? HELP!?

Question

I am 15 year old adopted from Guatemala and I'm wondering what i am made up of. I find myself very confused when people ask what ethnicity i am because i am not exactly sure. When i was younger my parents had people tell them i was a beautiful asian girl(6 month -5 yrs). Later in life people would say i looked part African American,American Indian or Indian(6yrs-12yrs). Now I am commonly perceived as a South American (13yrs-15yrs). I have had many people tell me there is a blood test that could tell me what i am made up of. I am curious as to how much it would cost and how available it is. Also the information i would receive after being tested. Would it be detailed or a guess? Thank you for you time all answers appreciated.

Answer 1

A DNA test will not provide names, exact places, exact dates, but WILL show all of your ancestry back thousands of years. I used www.familytreedna.com which shows that I have Native American ancestry, ancestors from all over Europe, the Middle East, South America, Australia, Africa and the Orient.

People's perceptions actually are MEANINGLESS; my wife is from the Philippines, but many people think that she is American Indian (including Indians, who try to talk to her in their language!)

Your problem will be that you would need both an mtDNA test (mother to mother to mother and back) and a yDNA test (father to father to father). Guys inherit mtDNA from their mothers but cannot pass it down to their children; gals cannot pass down yDNA and need a near male relative (father or brother) to test for the yDNA. Still, you should be able to find good results.

Only one problem left: if you are 15, you need parents/guardians permission to do the test.

Answer 2

If you are from Guatemala you are indian american. These people is mongolic like all indians....

Answer 3

If you were adopted from Guatemala it is likely that you're mestizo, which is of mixed "American Indian" and Spanish ancestry. My mother is mestizo and is sometimes mistaken for Asian. I don't know why your parents would tell people you were an Asian girl though if you were adopted from Guatemala. How much do you know about Guatemala? I think you should do some more investigating about the country where you were born before paying for a DNA test. I bet you'll find that there are millions of people who look like you there. Best Wishes.

Answer 4

You are an American.  that is enough

Answer 5

I adopted my son fron Guatemala and had a DNA test to determine his heritage!  I'm so glad to see you're interested in that as well.  I actually had his done (he is only 3) to help him with his identity issues when he is older...  like your age.

Anyway, my son's turned out to be:

75% Native American

13% East Asian

09% Indo-European

03% Sub-Saharan African

I was told he was from Mayan decent.

WE USED GENETREE TO DO THE TESTS.  You can reach them at 888-404-GENE or by going to www.genetree.com.  

Shirley T's answer has alot of information for you that I agree with... as well.  If you can afford the heritage DNA test, I'd go for it.  :-)

My email is open if you have any suggestions for me and my son.  I'm happy to hear from Guatemalan adoptees.  :-)

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I consider myself as white American (USA) and can add that my results were:

88% Indo-european

10% Native American

02% Sub-Saharan African

00% East Asian

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Best wishes!!!

Answer 6

DNA tests to determine ethnicity are not exact.  They will show something like Northern European, West African etc but not a specific nationality or race or ethnicity.

Also, just a minute portion of your DNA will be taken into consideration.  That is your mitochondrial DNA.

Y DNA is passed from father to son only.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.

Neither Y or Mitochondrial takes into consideration all the spouses that married a person's direct Y & Mitochondrial ancestors

that are that person's ancestors.

Most of your DNA is autosomal which you got 50-50 from both parents comiing down from all your ancestors. Right now it is not used in DNA testing  but there are companies working on it.  It is far more complicated.

Y & Mitochondrial are used because they go back in a straight line virtually unchanged.

Usually if a person can match themselves with other families trees in their Y & Mitochondrial lines, they will discover the spouses and parents of those lines that are not considered in current DNA testing. Also autosomal DNA is the only DNA that relates a female to her father.

Example:  If you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, barring any duplicates, you are directly descended from 510 individuals.

Of those 510 individuals you get your mitochondrial DNA from only 8 and if you were a male you would also get your Y DNA from only 8 but you get your autosomal DNA from all 510.

FamilyTreeDNA is the oldest in genealogy DNA

http://www.familytreedna.com/

Another group is Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. They do tests for free but will not send you the results. They will be posted on their website. It took about 6 months for miine to be posted.  They have contracted with GeneTree to interpret the results.  I had my mitochondrial interpreted for $19.50.  You will need a signon with GeneTree which is free.

http://www.smgf.org/pages/how_it_works.j...

Answer 7

You must understand that Asians and native Americans (both north and south) are genetically pretty closely related..

People from Asia (like Mongolia) are who originally settled North and south America back in the day

My Father was Euro-American (with a bit of native)  His first wife was 100% Japanese.. Their son didn't look Japanese (didn't have the eyes) But he could easily have passed for native american, or even mexican... Why? Because he had some Asiatic features, but not "extremely" ASiatic.  exactly like Native Americans!! And Mexicans have alot of American Indian in them as well, creating their unique skin color and look.

So, what's likely your case,  is you likely ARE south American, but most South Americans have alot of Indian (native American) blood in them, mixed with some European...

So that's why you look asian (Because indians from this continent are highly asiatic) why  you look American Indian (because you are)  and South American (which are highly Indian)  

Hope that helps you understand.. Genetically you are probably mostly South-American-INdian  which are closely related (genetically and in looks) to Asians..

I'd guess your genetic profile would be very similar to Kristy's son...

Answer 8

why dont you ask your parents? if adopted, then i dont know