Race and Ethnic Differences in Risk of Mortality among Veterans and Non-veterans

• In Event: 480 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Discrimination and Health

Abstract

Military veterans are a large and racially heterogeneous population with distinct health challenges. Previous research has analyzed racial and ethnic health disparities among veterans and non-veterans, yet little research compares the extent of health disparities between veterans and non-veterans. However, other research has found that racial/ethnic minority veterans have favorable levels of socioeconomic status, marriage, and occupational satisfaction than their peers who never served in the military. Using the 1997-2010 National Health Interview Survey (N=122,722) with Linked Mortality Files through 2012 (15,661 deaths) and cox proportional hazard models this paper compares the risk of mortality among veterans relative to non-veterans. We find that among non-veterans, net of basic demographic controls, blacks have a 43% higher risk of mortality than whites. Among veterans blacks have a 26% higher risk of mortality than whites. While blacks have elevated risks of mortality among veterans and non-veterans the risk is significantly smaller among veterans than non-veterans. There is no significant difference between veterans and non-veterans among Hispanics or other race groups. We find similar results using an interaction term between race/ethnicity and veteran status with non-veteran whites as the reference group, which is significant net of demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral health factors. We offer three complementary explanations for the smaller racial disparities among veterans: higher risk of death among white veterans, the military as a meritocratic total institution, and favorable selection of blacks into the military. Veterans are a focal group to analyze how to minimize broader racial and ethnic health disparities.

Authors

• Connor Sheehan, University of Texas at Austin

• Mark D. Hayward, University of Texas at Austin