Epidemiology of Complete Mental Health: Who Has It?
The literature on race and mental illness presents a paradox insofar as rates of common mental disorders are not higher in the group with greater inequality and discrimination. That is, rates of substance, mood, and anxiety disorders are either lower in Blacks or the same between Blacks and Whites (see Williams & Harris-Reid, 1999). In turn, racial– ethnic differences in levels of the six scales of psychological well-being—which form part of the diagnostic battery of flourishing—revealed that Blacks reported higher levels than Whites on all six scales before any covariates were introduced into the model (Ryff, Keyes, & Hughes, 2003). After controlling for education, income, a host of other demographics variables, and perceived discrimination, the Black advantage over Whites in psychological well-being increased. Because psychological well-being improved after controlling for discrimination, Ryff et al.’s (2003) findings suggest that Blacks would have an even better profile of psycholog
