A Vicious Cycle: How Family Loss Contributes to Racial Disparities in Health Michael A. Garcia, Rachel Donnelly, and Debra Umberson (December 7th, 2021)
Our recent research supported by the National Institutes of Health documents the extent of racial inequities in family loss and shows how this unequal burden adds to racial disadvantage in health and well-being. Indeed, throughout life, Black Americans are much more likely to lose a mother, father, sibling, child, and/or spouse than White Americans and to lose them at earlier ages. The differences are striking. By age 10, Black children are three times more likely than White children to lose a mother. Racial disadvantage in spouse and sibling loss follows similar patterns.
Research from the HEALING project featured in a Society of Pediatric Psychology fact sheet on grief in children and adolescence (July 13th, 2021)
Findings from the 2017 paper, “Death of family members as an overlooked source of racial disadvantage in the United States,” published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America by HEALING team members and colleagues Debra Umberson, Julie Skalamera Olson, Robert Crosnoe, Hui Liu, Tetyana Pudrovska, and Rachel Donnelly are featured in a Society of Pediatric Psychology fact sheet on grief in children and adolescence. The fact sheet can be viewed here.
As Grief Sweeps Nation from Violence, COVID-19 Deaths, Survivors ‘Suffering in Silence’ The Washington Informer, Debra Umberson (January 9th, 2021)
Black parents are more at risk. They’re nearly three times more likely than white parents to lose a child by age 30 and more than four times more likely to lose a child by age 80. Black children are also three times more likely than white children to lose a mother by the age of 10, according to Debra Umberson, professor of sociology and director of the Center on Aging and Population Sciences (CAPS) at the University of Texas at Austin.
“These losses add to that health disadvantage over time,” Umberson said.
The pain of losing a family member may make it more difficult for bereaved children to focus in class or attend school and may negatively affect educational development. Umberson recommended “monitoring systems” to identify these children as the “effects build over their life course.”
President-elect Joe Biden knows the pain of grief — and that makes him the leader America needs right now Business Insider, Debra Umberson; Deborah Carr (November 15th, 2020)
Grief and loss are “hidden” and “invisible” in American society, says Debra Umberson, professor of sociology and director of the Center on Aging and Population Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. In the US, there is no law granting workers the right to paid time off to attend a loved one’s funeral or process the trauma of losing a family member. Instead, bereavement leave is up to the discretion of employers. Most American workers receive only three days to grieve the loss of a close family member; some receive none. Instead, American individualism and the strong work ethic that runs deep for many means that people are expected to soldier on despite grave losses. “The American spirit is ‘Well, you’re supposed to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and go back to work and get over it and not complain to people.’ And all of those things just make it harder to deal with loss,” Umberson said.
“We aren’t collectively grieving right now,” she added. By continuing to share his story, Biden has the potential to change the public discourse on mourning, according to Deborah Carr, professor and chair of the sociology department at Boston University. “I think he really has this opportunity to say to all people, but to men especially, ‘It’s OK to grieve. It’s OK to grieve publicly. It’s OK to grieve not on a set timetable. You don’t have to be all happy and jolly six months later,'” she told Business Insider.
There’s A Racial Gap Even in Bereavement OZY, Debra Umberson (April 14, 2020)
“Losing a parent or sibling as a young child can influence everything from educational outcomes to relationship patterns to socioeconomic outcomes and lifelong health behaviors, says Umberson. For example, Umberson’s other research shows that losing a child by age 40 heightens one’s risk of developing dementia. Black Americans already face higher risk of dementia compared to whites — a likelihood exacerbated by Black parents’ higher chances of losing a child by midlife.
‘Bereavement is a public health problem,’ Umberson says. And it’s one that remains invisible in part because agencies focus on the effects of death on those who die — not on those around them.”
Why Black Women Are Aging Alone OZY, Debra Umberson (January 31, 2020)
“Black Americans face more lifetime stress than White Americans because of racial inequality, discrimination and segregation — stress that also strains relationships, says Debra Umberson, co-director of the Aging and Longevity Center at the University of Texas, Austin. They’re more likely to prematurely lose close family members, including children, Umberson notes. ‘Stress, family disruption, grief and loss, and incarceration can create new economic strains and interfere with one’s ability to work.’”
A Child’s Death Brings ‘Trauma That Doesn’t Go Away’ New York Times, Debra Umberson (September 29, 2017)
“Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, reviewing data from the federal Health and Retirement Study from 1992 to 2014, report that 11.5 percent of people over age 50 have lost a child. The figure is far higher among blacks (16.7 percent) than whites (10.2).”
African-Americans suffer inordinate loss of parents, children and siblings Reuters Health, Debra Umberson (January 31, 2017)
“Lead researcher Debra Umberson imagines the grieving children and the far-reaching repercussions of their losses when looking at her study’s broader findings: compared to white individuals, black people born between 1900 and 1984 had to cope far more often with the deaths of their parents, siblings and even their children, earlier and throughout their lives.
‘It’s a national crisis,’ she said in a phone interview. ‘The effects of these deaths reverberate throughout these communities.’”
Early family deaths may create “grief gap” for blacks CBS News, Debra Umberson (January 24, 2017)
“’Blacks were three times more likely to lose a mother, twice as likely to lose a father, and 2.5 times more likely to lose a child by age 30,’ said study lead author Debra Umberson. ‘And they’re 90 percent more likely to experience four or more family deaths by age 60.’
The full effect is unclear, said Umberson, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Still, earlier research has shown that the death of a parent, child or spouse is the most stressful life event you can experience, which can lead to other stressors such as divorce or poverty, she and her colleagues noted.
‘This is a tragedy, one that reverberates throughout these family networks to affect many people in ways that surely take a toll on their lives,’ Umberson said.”