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Highly public anti-Black violence is associated with poor mental health days for Black Americans

Author

Listed:
  • David S. Curtis

    (Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112)

  • Tessa Washburn

    (Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112)

  • Hedwig Lee

    (Department of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130)

  • Ken R. Smith

    (Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112)

  • Jaewhan Kim

    (Department of Physical Therapy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112)

  • Connor D. Martz

    (Department of Human Development and Family Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849)

  • Michael R. Kramer

    (Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322)

  • David H. Chae

    (Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112)

Abstract

Highly public anti-Black violence in the United States may cause widely experienced distress for Black Americans. This study identifies 49 publicized incidents of racial violence and quantifies national interest based on Google searches; incidents include police killings of Black individuals, decisions not to indict or convict the officer involved, and hate crime murders. Weekly time series of population mental health are produced for 2012 through 2017 using two sources: 1) Google Trends as national search volume for psychological distress terms and 2) the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) as average poor mental health days in the past 30 d among Black respondents (mean weekly sample size of 696). Autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models accounted for autocorrelation, monthly unemployment, season and year effects, 52-wk lags, news-related searches for suicide (for Google Trends), and depression prevalence and percent female (for BRFSS). National search interest varied more than 100-fold between racial violence incidents. Black BRFSS respondents reported 0.26 more poor mental health days during weeks with two or more racial incidents relative to none, and 0.13 more days with each log 10 increase in national interest. Estimates were robust to sensitivity tests, including controlling for monthly number of Black homicide victims and weekly search interest in riots. As expected, racial incidents did not predict average poor mental health days among White BRFSS respondents. Results with national psychological distress from Google Trends were mixed but generally unsupportive of hypotheses. Reducing anti-Black violence may benefit Black Americans’ mental health nationally.

Suggested Citation

  • David S. Curtis & Tessa Washburn & Hedwig Lee & Ken R. Smith & Jaewhan Kim & Connor D. Martz & Michael R. Kramer & David H. Chae, 2021. "Highly public anti-Black violence is associated with poor mental health days for Black Americans," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(17), pages 2019624118-, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e2019624118
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    Cited by:

    1. McKinnon, Izraelle I. & Johnson, Dayna A. & Murden, Raphiel J. & Erving, Christy L. & Parker, Rachel & Van Dyke, Miriam E. & Vaccarino, Viola & Booker, Bianca & Moore, Renee H. & Lewis, Tené T., 2023. "Extreme racism-related events and poor sleep in African-American women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    2. McKinnon, Izraelle I. & Johnson, Dayna A. & Murden, Raphiel J. & Erving, Christy L. & Parker, Rachel & Van Dyke, Miriam E. & Vaccarino, Viola & Booker, Bianca & Moore, Renee H. & Lewis, Tené T., 2022. "Extreme racism-related events and poor sleep in African-American women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    3. Phillips, Julie A. & Davidson, Thomas R. & Baffoe-Bonnie, Marilyn S., 2023. "Identifying latent themes in suicide among black and white adolescents and young adults using the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2013–2019," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    4. Kim, Yehsong & Beale, Alexis M. & Rasmussen, Hannah F. & Kazmierski, Kelly F.M. & Margolin, Gayla, 2024. "Anti-Black violence, discrimination, and sleep difficulties amongst racially diverse Americans: The aftermath of the murder of George Floyd," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    5. Sleeper, Colin & Cartwright, Kate & van der Goes, David N., 2023. "The relationship between mental health and public attention to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).

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