Racial differences in mental health: Results from a national study.

Prior mental health research has found inconsistent racial differences in depressive symptoms, but blacks have lower levels of psychological well-being than whites and similar or lower rates of major depression. These paradoxical findings are mostly derived from individual studies that often use one measure of mental health to assess racial differences. Researchers are unclear about the extent to which sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, along with stressors and resources, contribute to black/white differences in mental health. This dissertation uses data from the Americans' Changing Lives study (ACL), a large national probability sample of the U.S. population, to examine racial differences in psychological well-being, depressive symptoms and major depression. Additionally, it examines the contribution of sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables to racial differences in mental health and the extent to which stressors and resources can explain these differences. The analyses reveal that: (1) blacks have lower levels of psychological well-being, higher levels of depressive symptoms and similar rates of major depression compared to whites, even after adjusting for multiple sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors in this national sample, (2) acute and chronic stressors adversely affect mental health for blacks and whites, (3) job stressors are unrelated to mental health for blacks but weakly related to mental health for whites, (4) life events are more strongly related to well-being for blacks than whites but not to depressive symptoms and major depression, (5) financial stressors are more consequential for well-being and depressive symptoms for blacks than whites, but not for major depression, (6) religious attendance is more beneficial to blacks than whites for well-being and depressive symptoms but not for major depression, (7) religious beliefs are associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms for blacks compared to whites but not for well-being and major depression, (8) religious support is associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms for whites than blacks but not for well-being and major depression. The limitations of the study are discussed and several implications and promising directions for future research are identified.PhDEthnic studiesHealth and Environmental SciencesMental healthSocial SciencesSocial structureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123497/2/3079549.pd