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Primary Submission Category: Mental health/function
Deconstructing Race: Racial Identity Discordance and Mental Health Outcomes
Authors: Fatima Fairfax,
Presenting Author: Fatima Fairfax*
There is a wealth of research that demonstrates racial disparities in US mental health outcomes. However, much of this work relies on self-reported race to measure racial identity. While self-reported race is one component of racial identity, how others perceive one’s race is an important factor into a persons racialized experience. As such, considering a person’s ascribed race, is crucial to better understanding the links between race and mental health outcomes. In this study, I explore how discordance between self-identified race and ascribed race is associated with mental health symptoms and treatment among adults who identify as Asian, Black, Hispanic, or Native American. I leverage nationally representative data from the 2023 BRFSS. I find that adults who experience discordance between their self-identified race and the race they believe they are ascribed have 28% increased odds of mental distress compared to those who are concordant. Racial discordance is also associated with significantly increased odds (OR = 2.03) of diagnosed depression. Furthermore, I find that this effect is not consistent across groups. In race stratified models, for adults who identify as Black or Asian, racial discordance has no significant association with increased mental distress. However, Hispanic and Native identifying adults have increased odds of mental distress if they experience racial discordance. Meanwhile, all adults except for self-identified Black adults who experience racial discordance have increased odds of being diagnosed with depression. These results demonstrate the importance of examining different facets of racial identity to better understand how race matters to mental health outcomes.