COVID took many in the prime of life, leaving families to pick up the pieces NPR (May 13, 2022)
The grief of losing a loved one can have profound repercussions on mental health, says Debra Umberson, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin who studies racial disparities and the impact of loss. “For example, if you develop a lot of anxiety or depression, you may carry that with you for more years of your life, which takes a toll on health,” she says. And that can have lasting impact on physical health, affecting cardiovascular health, mortality risk and dementia risk, Umberson says. “It’s written on the body.”
How Racism in Early Life Can Affect Long-Term Health Scientific American (January 3, 2022)
Findings from the paper, “Death of family members as an overlooked source of racial disadvantage in the United States,” by Debra Umberson and the HEALING team were recently featured in Scientific American. “Race is a social invention. All humans, regardless of skin color, share 99.9 percent of the same genome. Residential segregation—one of many converging consequences of systemic racism, personal discrimination and poverty—results in significant inequities in exposure to air pollution, other environmental toxins and neighborhood violence, as well as unequal access to nutritious food, stable housing, and high-quality education and health care. Black-white differences in preterm birth have been well-documented and linked to stress associated with discrimination, independent of socioeconomic status. Black children are three times more likely than white children to lose their mother by age 10.”
The Staggering Number of Kids Who Have Lost a Parent to COVID-19 The Atlantic (October 16, 2021)
Findings from the 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 Debra Umberson and the HEALING team were recently featured in The Atlantic. “In a study from before the pandemic, Black Americans were found to be more likely than white Americans to have experienced a death in their family during childhood.”
Key Factors Underlying Racial Disparities in Health Between Black and White Older Americans PRB, (May 28th, 2021)
Research conducted by Debra Umberson and the HEALING team was recently featured in a PRB research brief. “This brief summarizes what we know about Black-white health inequality at older ages, focusing on the recent work of researchers supported by the National Institute on Aging. It explores trends and examines the underlying structural forces shaping racial health disparities. These findings can help lawmakers design policies to address these inequalities and help improve health and prevent early death among Black Americans.” The full report can be viewed here.
‘Racial Inequality May Be As Deadly As COVID-19,’ Analysis Finds NPR (August 27, 2020)
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality rates and life expectancy are far better for white Americans than they are for Black people during normal, non-pandemic years, according to an analysis published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Endless Grief: The Spectacle of ‘Black Bodies in Pain’ The New York Times (June 22, 2020)
Depression and anxiety spiked among black Americans after George Floyd’s death The Washington Post (June 12, 2020)
America’s mental health was already deteriorating from the pandemic, but amid protests and racial unrest, black and Asian Americans have suffered even sharper rises in problems, while white Americans have been left relatively untouched.