Parental Educational Attainment and Chronic Medical Conditions among American Youth; Minorities’ Diminished Returns

2020

J Med Res Innov

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Background: Education level reduces the risk of health problems such as poor self-rated health (SRH), high body mass index (BMI), and depressive symptoms (DS). Marginalization – related Diminished Returns (MDRs), however, refer to smaller health benefits of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators particularly educational attainment for the members of racial minority groups such as non-Hispanic Blacks compared to the majority group (non-Hispanic Whites). It is not known, however, if MDRs also hold for middle-age and older adults over a long period of time. Aims: The current study used a nationally representative data set to explore racial variation in the predictive utility of baseline education level on protecting people against poor SRH, BMI, and DS. Methods: Data for this analysis were borrowed from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS 1992-ongoing), a nationally representative longitudinal study that followed 10,023 middle-aged and older adults (50+ years old) for up to 26 years. From this number, 1877 (18.7%) were non-Hispanic Black Americans, and 8,146 (81.3%) were non-Hispanic White Americans. Education level was the independent variable. We used cluster analysis to categorize individuals to low and high-risk groups (outcome) based on SRH, BMI, and DS over 26 years. Age and gender were the covariates. Race was the moderator. Results: Overall, high education level reduced the odds of poor SRH, BMI, and DS over the 26 years of follow up. Interactions were observed between race and education on all three health outcomes indicating smaller protective effects of baseline educational attainment on poor health over time, regardless of the outcome. Conclusions: In line with the MDRs, highly educated non-Hispanic Black Americans remain at high risk for poor health across domains, a risk which is unexpected given their education. The risk of all health outcomes, however, is lowest for non-Hispanic White Americans with highest education. Policies that exclusively focus on equalizing racial gaps in SES (e.g., education) may fail to eliminate the racial and ethnic health inequalities because of the racial inequalities in the marginal health return of education. Public policies must equalize education quality and address structural and environmental barriers that are disproportionately more common in the lives of non-Hispanic Black Americans, even at high education levels. Future research should test how contextual factors, segregation, labor market practices, childhood poverty, and education quality reduces the health return of education for highly educated non-Hispanic Black Americans.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blacks’ Diminished Health Returns of Educational Attainment: Health and Retirement Study

2020

J Med Res Innov

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“…To extend the literature on the MDRs phenomenon, [55][56][57][58][59] we compared immigrant and non-immigrant families for the effects of household income on children's depression. We expected an inverse association between family income and children's depression.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Household Income and Children’s Depressive Symptoms: Immigrants’ Diminished Returns

Int J Travel Med Glob Health

2020

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IntroductionChildren from marginalized families, including Hispanics, Blacks, and immigrants, are at an increased risk of undesired developmental outcomes, such as depression. [1][2][3][4][5][6] As early outcomes influence future economic and health consequences, 7-10 it is imperative to close such children's inequalities if we wish to eliminate subsequent disparities later in life. [7][8][9][10] There is a close association between social marginalization and household income. [11][12][13] Social marginalization, immigration status, and household income all have separate, combined, and multiplicative effects on children's developmental outcomes. [11][12][13] This is mainly because both low household income and marginalized social identities are commonly associated with economic adversities, stress, trauma, stigma, and prejudice. [14][15][16][17] Among the strongest social determinants of children's developmental outcomes is household income, a major family economic indicator. [18][19][20][21] Regardless of the domain, many studies have documented a link between low household income and associated poverty and financial distress as major risk factors of behavioral problems and poor health. [22][23][24] High household income, commonly measured by parental educational attainment, is linked to a variety of family economic indicators, such as employment, wealth, and marital status, all of which positively influence children's mental health. [18][19][20][21] Parents with large economic resources can afford to put in higher investment and greater involvement in the lives of their children. [25][26][27] In addition, children from high socioeconomic status (SES) families are sent to better http://ijtmgh.com

“…Racism, stratification, and segregation are not much relevant to the health of non-Latino Whites, for whom individual-level factors show more potent effects. [62][63][64][65] This study established differential effects of PD on STB frequency of AA and non-Latino White children. Previous studies have shown differences between non-Latino White and AAs in risk and protective factors that correlate with STB frequency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Perceived Discrimination and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among American African American and White Children

2021

Hosp Pract Res

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Background: Perceived discrimination (PD) is a risk factor of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) for children, youth, and adults. However, it is unknown whether the association between PD and STB frequency differs between African American (AA) and Non-Hispanic White children. Objectives: In this study, we compared AA and non-Latino White children for the association between PD and STB frequency in a national sample of 9-10-year-old American children. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which included 7883 non-Latino White or AA children between the ages of 9 and 10. The predictor variable was frequency of PDs. Race was the moderator. The outcome variable was STB frequency, treated as a count variable, reflecting positive STB items endorsed over the life-course. Covariates included sex, age, marital status, household income, parental education, parental employment, trauma, and economic difficulties. Poisson regression was used for data analysis. Results: Of all the participants, 5994 were non-Latino Whites, and 1889 were AAs. Overall, PD frequency was positively associated with STB frequency. A statistically significant interaction was found between race and PD, suggesting that the association between PD and STB frequency is weaker in AA than non-Latino White children. Conclusion: The observed weaker association between PDs frequency and STB frequency in AA than non-Latino White children suggests that PD may be a less salient risk factor of STB frequency for AA than non-Latino White children. Researchers should explore factors other than PD for suicide prevention of AA children in the US.