Puryear, Michaela Cherelle. Examining correlates of past year major depressive episode among black men and black women in the United States. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-wdqr-0781
DescriptionBackground: Depression is a major public health problem. Even though Black people are the second largest racial group in the United States, little data exists examining correlates of depression among Black adults. In addition, while attention to gender disparities in science has led to calls for gender-specific data analyses, only a handful of studies on depression have reported gender-specific findings for Black adults Methods: This study examined gender-specific risk and protective correlates of past year major depressive episodes (PY-MDE). Participants were Black men (N=1,681) and Black women (N=2,437) who participated in wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The risk correlates studied included ten adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), past year intimate partner violence, and past year racial and gender discrimination. The protective correlates studied were religiosity and ethnic identity. Results: Intimate partner violence was the only correlate of PY-MDE for both Black men and women. The association between intimate partner violence and PY-MDE was larger for Black men (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =3.03) than Black women (AOR=1.70). Childhood psychological and sexual abuse were associated with PY-MDE for Black women, but not men. Among Black women, the association between gender discrimination and PY-MDE was significant (AOR=2.21). Neither religiosity or ethnic identity were protective for Black men and women. Discussion: Findings suggest the need for gender-specific interventions for depression among Black adults that address racial and gender discrimination, IPV, and that include culturally adapted CBT and trauma informed therapy.