Walsemann Katrina M, Gee Gilbert C, Geronimus Arline T
University of South Carolina, Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
J Health Soc Behav. 2009 Mar;50(1):82-98. doi: 10.1177/002214650905000106.
Although research investigating ethnic differences in mental health has increased in recent years, we know relatively little about how mental health trajectories vary across ethnic groups. Do these differences occur at certain ages but not others? We investigate ethnic variation in trajectories of depressive symptoms, and we examine the extent to which disadvantages in family background, high school experiences, and adult characteristics explain these diferences. Employing random-coefficient modeling using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that blacks and Hispanics experience higher symptom levels in early adulthood in comparison to whites, but equivalent levels by middle age. Ethnic differences remained in early adulthood after including all covariates, but those differences were eliminated by middle age for Hispanics after controlling for demographics only, and for blacks after accounting for the age-varying relationship between income and depressive symptoms. These results highlight the importance of integrating a life course perspective when investigating ethnic variations in mental health.
尽管近年来对心理健康方面种族差异的研究有所增加，但我们对不同种族间心理健康轨迹的差异了解相对较少。这些差异是在特定年龄段出现而在其他年龄段不出现吗？我们研究抑郁症状轨迹中的种族差异，并考察家庭背景、高中经历和成人特征方面的劣势在多大程度上解释了这些差异。利用全国青年纵向调查进行随机系数建模，我们发现与白人相比，黑人和西班牙裔在成年早期的症状水平更高，但到中年时症状水平相当。纳入所有协变量后，成年早期的种族差异仍然存在，但仅控制人口统计学因素后，西班牙裔在中年时这些差异消失，而黑人在考虑收入与抑郁症状之间随年龄变化的关系后，中年时差异也消失。这些结果凸显了在研究心理健康的种族差异时纳入生命历程视角的重要性。
