Is the Black-White Mental Health Paradox Consistent Across Gender and Psychiatric Disorders?
Open accessAbstract
This study assessed whether the black-white mental health epidemiologic paradox (i.e., blacks' lower or similar rates of mental disorder relative to whites) extends across 12 lifetime and past-year psychiatric disorders and whether it varies with gender. We used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication and the National Survey of American Life, 2001-2003 (n = 4,584 black and 6,668 non-Hispanic white persons). Results showed overwhelming evidence of the paradox across lifetime and past-year disorders for women and men. In addition, blacks' mental health advantage over whites widened after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. There was one exception: Black women experienced higher risk of lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder compared with white women. These findings provide strong evidence for the "black-white mental health paradox"; however, additional research is needed to understand black women's heightened risk for posttraumatic stress disorder.
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Cites
Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health
(2013) · Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5 · Cited by 922 · see citing works
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Specifying race-ethnic differences in risk for psychiatric disorder in a USA national sample
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“In addition to a restricted number of outcomes, previous paradox studies often limited their attention to lifetime psychiatric disorders (1, 6, 15, 18, 20, 21).”
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Robinson, M. N., & Thomas Tobin, C. S. (2021) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.1177/00221465211009142 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
A Meta-Regression of Racial Disparities in Wellbeing Outcomes During and After Foster Care
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- Authors
- Erving, C. L., Thomas, C. S., & Frazier, C.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Erving, Christy L
- Venue
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-10-24
- Volume
- 188
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 314-322
- ISSN
- 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6256
- PMC
- PMC6357792
- OpenAlex
- W2898423841
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 9.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (P30-AG021684, UL1TR001881)
- National Institution on Aging (P30-AG021684)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001881)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2C – HD041022)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- racial disparities in mental health, mental illness, gender differences, post-traumatic stress disorder, Black women, socioeconomic factors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Mental Disorders, Black or African American, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, United States, Comorbidity, Prevalence, White People, Young Adult
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