Scientific Impact
Developing programs to ease financial strains and burdens can not only meet one’s basic needs, but can also improve mental health.
Understanding Black America
The National Survey of American Life participants include Black, white, and Caribbean Americans and everyone’s participation is extremely valuable and key to helping researchers understand the factors that impact people’s lives.
The original National Survey of American Life is a particularly strong resource for researchers who study the lives of Black Americans. This is because of how the study was designed, specifically to include a broad spectrum of Black people – what scientists call a “nationally representative sample”. This means that the participants who were chosen for the study were carefully selected to represent all of the variety of experiences of the Black community in the US. The original study was one of the earliest studies to use a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, so the data collected became a rich resource for people who wanted to compare experiences within the Black community (as opposed to comparing Black Americans with white Americans). This study has allowed us to gain a rich understanding of many different areas of people’s lives.
What do we know about depression among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks?
While depression may be diagnosed at different rates, it often lasts longer and causes greater disability in both groups. Research using NSAL data and led by Dr. David Williams of Harvard University shows that many people—especially Caribbean Blacks—do not receive treatment, even when symptoms are severe.
These patterns raise important questions about why treatment is missed and how mental health services can be redesigned to better meet community needs.
Does a parent’s education level make a difference for their kids?
We usually see that when parents have a higher educational level, it means their kids will experience upward mobility thanks to their own better education. However, NSAL research by Dr. Shervin Assari at the University of Michigan found that this boosting effect is smaller for African Americans compared to white Americans.
This finding shows we need to use intersectionality to understand the effects of race, gender, and class in the US.
What do we know about suicide attempts among African American and Caribbean black teenagers?
Dr. Sean Joe of Washington University and other researchers have compiled information from the NSAL to gain a better understanding of suicide in these populations. African American adolescents are nearly five times more likely to attempt suicide than Caribbean black adolescents. Black female adolescents are more likely than black males to report suicidal ideation and attempts. Almost half of adolescents who report a suicide attempt do not meet criteria to be diagnosed with mental health disorders.
This suggests that health care workers should be trained to screen for suicidal behavior even among adolescents who do not have diagnosable mental disorders.
Can physical activity help with depression?
According to NSAL data, African American men participate in leisure-time physical activity more often than African American women, and more African American women report never engaging in leisure-time physical activity than African American men. This data helped Dr. Elisa Torres of Wayne State University and her colleagues determine that leisure-time physical activity is associated with fewer depressive symptoms among non-clinically depressed African Americans.
This research suggests that physical activity might help people avoid depressive symptoms.
How often do older Americans seek professional help?
Older adults report seeking help for stressful personal problems from both professionals and family and friends. Roughly two-thirds of NSAL participants sought help from at least one professional helper, particularly family doctors and clergy. This NSAL data allowed Dr. Amanda Woodward of Michigan State University and colleagues to determine that older African Americans were less likely to contact psychiatrists or other mental health professionals compared with non-Hispanic Whites and Black Caribbeans.
Understanding these differences will allow us to better understand barriers to accessing professional help.
How do family and “fictive kin” support us?
The National Survey of American Life is unique in that it assesses “fictive kin”, that is. people who are not related but who truly consider each other to be family. Findings from Dr. Robert Taylor of the University of Michigan and colleagues show that fictive kin ties strengthen family bonds, rather than substitute for family deficits.
This research gives us a better understanding of who we consider to be family.
How do church communities help their members?
Researchers understand that experiences of racial discrimination are associated with mental health challenges. Thanks to NSAL data, Dr. Ann Nguyen of Case Western Reserve University was able to show that social support from church members can buffer against these negative impacts among older African Americans.
This suggests that church support is an effective resource for older African Americans dealing with discrimination.
How is racial discrimination connected to heart disease?
The NSAL study helped Dr. Christy Erving of the University of Texas at Austin determine that US-born African American women are at a greater risk for hypertension than their foreign-born or Afro-Caribbean counterparts. Dr. Erving explored the connections between heart disease and stressful experiences, such as racial discrimination, stressful life events, financial strain, and negative interactions with family members.
These findings help us understand why rates of heart disease may be high among African American women.
How are neighborhood conditions connected to mental illness?
Among African Americans, perceived neighborhood problems are widespread. Dr. Adam Simning of the University of Rochester and colleagues found that NSAL participants reporting high levels of perceived neighborhood crime or drug problems are more likely to have psychiatric disorders, even after accounting for sociodemographics and chronic disease.
Neighborhood context is important to better understand mental illness and its treatment.