Beyond the U-Shape: Do Age Differences in Mental Health Vary Across Racial/Ethnic Groups?

• In Event: Aging and the Life Course Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): 2: Life course Approaches to Mental Health and Well-being

Abstract

Studies of mental health over the life course have documented a U-shaped curve, where happiness is highest in young and older adulthood, and lowest in midlife. However, it is unclear whether this pattern is evident among all racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. and for other mental health outcomes. Historically minoritized populations face cumulative structural disadvantages across the life course, and experience chronic stress and accelerated aging which may alter the level or shape of the association between age and mental health. Drawing on life course, stress, and systemic racism literatures, we use from the 2019 and 2022 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) National Health Interview Survey (n = ~56,000) to examine whether age patterns in anxiety and depression differ across non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Asian, and Hispanic adults. We estimate logistic regression models to predict the odds of anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-8) symptoms in the past year, and adjust for socioeconomic, health, and demographic characteristics. Unadjusted models show a clear U-shaped curve where the youngest and oldest age groups have the highest odds of past-year depression and anxiety, although levels of symptoms and the inflection point in the U-shaped curves differs across racial and ethnic groups. Asians have lower risk of both symptoms, and the age at which symptom risk increases occurs at younger ages among Hispanic and Black persons relative to whites. However, after adjusting for all covariates, the four racial/ethnic groups do not differ significantly with respect to the age-mental health curve. This attenuation of disparities after adjustment indicates that much midlife divergence reflects socioeconomic and health stratification rather than inherent group differences in psychological vulnerability. Our results suggest reframing the age–mental health curve as a stratified life-course process provides a more accurate foundation for both sociological theory and public policy.

Authors

• Stuti Das, The University of Texas Medical Branch

• Deborah Carr, Boston University