Death of family members as an overlooked source of racial disadvantage in the United States

Abstract

Long-standing racial differences in US life expectancy suggest that black Americans would be exposed to significantly more family member deaths than white Americans from childhood through adulthood, which, given the health risks posed by grief and bereavement, would add to the disadvantages that they face. We analyze nationally representative US data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (n = 7,617) and the Health and Retirement Study (n = 34,757) to estimate racial differences in exposure to the death of family members at different ages, beginning in childhood. Results indicate that blacks are significantly more likely than whites to have experienced the death of a mother, a father, and a sibling from childhood through midlife. From young adulthood through later life, blacks are also more likely than whites to have experienced the death of a child and of a spouse. These results reveal an underappreciated layer of racial inequality in the United States, one that could contribute to the intergenerational transmission of health disadvantage. By calling attention to this heightened vulnerability of black Americans, our findings underscore the need to address the potential impact of more frequent and earlier exposure to family member deaths in the process of cumulative disadvantage.race | life expectancy | bereavement | family | disparities

Projections of white and black older adults without living kin in the United States, 2015 to 2060

“…The third group, group C, includes the remaining causes of being without a partner or biological children, such as those whose partner and children died. Group C is small and there is little change in it over time, although we note that it is larger for blacks than for whites, consistent with mortality explaining a small but meaningful amount of racial disparities in kinlessness (14,42). We also examined the demographic and social factors leading to increases in the population percentage of individuals without a living partner, biological children, siblings, or parents for all race and sex groups (kinless 2; SI Appendix, Fig.…”

“…We find that increases in those who never had siblings account for a larger share of the increase for whites (32% for white men, 43% for white women) than for blacks (16% among black men and 15% among black women). Examining race differences in lacking all close kin highlights the complex ways that historical fertility patterns interact with racial disparities in mortality (14,42) to produce kinlessness.…”

“…The first is the death of kin. Demographers have recently embarked on explorations of this topic and found that it may be an underappreciated dimension of racial inequality (14,42), but it needs more attention. However, our findings show that a very small percentage of the future population will be kinless because of the death of a partner and children.…”

“…For example, among those aged 45 to 54 in 2011, whites were almost twice as likely to have living spouses as blacks (64% vs. 36%) but slightly less likely to have living children (73% vs. 78%). A portion of these complex patterns is determined by the different ages at which whites and blacks experience kin mortality (14,42). For instance, by age 60, blacks are twice as likely as whites to have lost a spouse (10.5% vs. 4.9%) and a child (1.0% vs. 0.5%) (42).…”

“…A portion of these complex patterns is determined by the different ages at which whites and blacks experience kin mortality (14,42). For instance, by age 60, blacks are twice as likely as whites to have lost a spouse (10.5% vs. 4.9%) and a child (1.0% vs. 0.5%) (42). But, of course, differential fertility also plays a critical role in producing these disparities by altering numbers of children, how many siblings those children have, and age differences between parents and children.…”