A new piece for OZY features work by HEALING researchers Debra Umberson, Rachel Donnelly, Debra Umberson, Cathy Liu, Rachel Donnelly, and Michael Garcia. Author Carly Stern writes, “This data comes from research published in 2017 by Debra Umberson, a sociology professor and director of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin. Racial gaps in life expectancy and mortality rates have been well-documented. But this study, which used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, was the first population-based look at “repeated bereavement experiences” among Black Americans, according to Umberson.
By the time Black Americans turn 60, they are 90 percent more likely than their white peers to experience at least four deaths of family members (defined here as mothers, fathers, siblings and children). It’s also dramatic at the other end of the life cycle: Black children are three times more likely than white children to lose a mother, according to Umberson, who is currently working on research that examines similar questions in Latinx populations. These events early in people’s life trajectories compound racial disadvantage in a way that researchers aren’t adequately capturing, she argues.”
“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.”