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IJE Advance Access originally published online on June 11, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology 2007 36(4):758-760; doi:10.1093/ije/dym114
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2007; all rights reserved.

Commentary: Race and mental health—more questions than answers

David R Williams1,* and Tara R Earl2

1 Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Room 615, Boston, MA 02115-6096, USA.
2 Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, 120 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: dwilliam@hsph.harvard.edu

Accepted 1 May 2007

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

Research on racial disparities in health has a striking paradox. On almost every indicator of physical health status African-Americans (or blacks) have higher rates of morbidity and mortality than whites,1 but, surprisingly, blacks have lower rates of commonly occurring, mood, anxiety and substance disorders than whites.2 However, racial disparities in mental health are complex with the pattern varying for different indicators of mental health status. Compared with whites, African-Americans report lower levels of psychological well being (e.g. life satisfaction and happiness),3 and more often than not, have higher rates of psychological distress.4 At the same time, blacks also report higher levels of flourishing (high levels of psychological well-being and being free of current mental disorders) than whites.5

The Prenatal Determinants of Schizophrenia (PDS) study highlights an . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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