Open AccessWill 'Deaths of Despair' among Whites Change How We Talk about Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities?
Author(s) -
Lauren Brown,
Reginald Tucker-Seeley
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ethnicity and disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.767
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1945-0826
pISSN - 1049-510X
DOI - 10.18865/ed.28.2.123
Subject(s) - ethnic group , health equity , socioeconomic status , population , asian americans , race (biology) , race and health , medicine , demography , gerontology , population health , conversation , psychology , environmental health , political science , public health , sociology , gender studies , nursing , communication , law
The recent trend of premature death among Whites in the United States has garnered attention in both the popular and academic literature. This attention has focused on the plight of low socioeconomic status Whites in non-urban areas. The population health literature in general and the health disparities literature more specifically has struggled to describe differences in health when White groups present worse health outcomes or worsening trends compared with racial/ ethnic minority groups. There remain many open questions as population health/health disparities research attempts to explain the increasing mortality rates for low socioeconomic status Whites in non-urban areas in relationship to other racial/ethnic groups. As the conversation in the academic and popular literature continues to unfold, a key question for population health research and practice is how will the ‘deaths of despair’ phenomenon among Whites influence our measuring of, and reporting and intervening on, race/ethnic health disparities?Ethn Dis. 2018;28(2):123-128; doi:10.18865/ ed.28.2.123.