SynthesisSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2017
Do racial patterns in psychological distress shed light on the Black-White depression paradox? A systematic review.
Synthesis in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 182 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assets and depression in U.S. adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Ability to detect depression in ethnic minority groups: a UK Biobank cohort study.BMJ mental health · 2026Article
- Relative Burden of Social Determinants of Health on Diverse Populations of Health Resources and Services Administration Health Centers.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Clinical Associations and Possible Risk Factors for Affective Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Older Adults With and Without Cognitive Impairment.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Racial Trauma and Black Mothers' Mental Health: Does Cognitive Flexibility Buffer the Effects of Racialized Stress?Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Social Determinants of Health Among Individuals Receiving Opioids for Pain Management.The Clinical journal of pain · 2025Article
- Examining Long-Term Mental Health Outcomes Associated with Childhood Gun Violence Exposure: Variations by Race/Ethnicity and Gender.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2025Article
- Prevalence and correlates of severe depressive symptoms among Arab, Asian, Black, Indigenous, White, and mixed-race individuals in Canada: a population-based study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Divergence in the size and composition of the race gap in mental health: Evidence from South Africa.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Prevalence estimates of depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents in Bermuda, according to age, gender and race.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Racial Differences in Biopsychosocial Pathways to Tobacco and Marijuana Use Among Youth.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Depression and Anxiety Outcomes Among Young Adults Who Self-Reported Experiencing Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Adolescence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Community-based stress, social support, and depressive symptoms among black adults: A mediation analysis.SSM. Mental health · 2025Article
- Psychological distress and its potential risk factors among Black and White adult immigrants in the United States - National Health Interview Survey 2005-2018.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of mental and physical health outcomes over time in an integrated care setting.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Psychological Distress Among US-Born and Non-US-Born Black or African American Adults in the US.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Mental Health Status by Race, Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status among Young Adults in Texas during COVID-19.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Disparities in depression and anxiety at the intersection of race and gender identity in a large community health sample.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Differential associations of neighborhood disadvantage, race/ethnicity, and cognitive status with experiences of psychosocial distress in the HABS-HD cohort.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMajor epidemiologic studies in the US reveal a consistent "paradox" by which psychiatric outcomes such as major depressive disorder (MDD) are less prevalent among Blacks relative to Whites, despite greater exposure to social and economic stressors and worse physical health outcomes. A second paradox, which has received less attention and has never been systematically documented, is the discrepancy between these patterns and Black-White comparisons in psychological distress, which reveal consistently higher levels among Blacks. By systematically documenting the latter paradox, this paper seeks to inform efforts to explain the first paradox.
methodsWe conduct a systematic review of the literature estimating the prevalence of MDD and levels of psychological distress in Blacks and Whites in the US.
resultsThe literature review yielded 34 articles reporting 54 relevant outcomes overall. Blacks have a lower prevalence of MDD in 8 of the 9 comparisons observed. In contrast, Blacks have higher levels of psychological distress (in terms of "high distress" and mean scores) than Whites in 42 of the 45 comparisons observed. Tests of statistical significance, where available, confirm this discrepant pattern.
conclusionsA systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence supports the existence of a "double paradox" by which Blacks' lower prevalence of MDD relative to Whites' is inconsistent with both the expectations of social stress theory and with the empirical evidence regarding psychological distress. Efforts to resolve the Black-White depression paradox should account for the discordant distress results, which seem to favor artifactual explanations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.