TY - JOUR
T1 - Race differentials in employment effects of psychological distress
T2 - A study of non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans in the United States
AU - Alexandre, Pierre Kébreau
AU - Patrick, Richard
AU - Beauliere, Arnousse
AU - Martins, Silvia S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support was provided the following grants: AA13608 (PI: Alexandre) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; and DA020630 (PI: Alexandre), DA020923 (PI: Martins) and DA020667 (PI: Martins) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We thank the Social Science Journal, two anonymous reviewers, and Mellisha McKitty for providing technical assistance.
PY - 2009/3
Y1 - 2009/3
N2 - This study used two sub-samples of African-Americans and non-Hispanic Whites from the 2002-2003 U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine differential effects of psychological distress (PD) on employment. Failing to reject exogeneity of PD in the employment specifications, we estimated standard probit of employment. We found that PD significantly reduced employment probability regardless of race; but the reduction was 7.4% for African-Americans, compared to 5.3% for Whites. Using individuals with PD only, we estimated the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and found endowments explained 61% of employment differences between Whites with PDs and African-Americans with PDs while 39% of these differences were due to unexplained factors. These findings suggest that targeted policies for prevention and effective treatment of PD might yield higher employment benefits for minorities.
AB - This study used two sub-samples of African-Americans and non-Hispanic Whites from the 2002-2003 U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine differential effects of psychological distress (PD) on employment. Failing to reject exogeneity of PD in the employment specifications, we estimated standard probit of employment. We found that PD significantly reduced employment probability regardless of race; but the reduction was 7.4% for African-Americans, compared to 5.3% for Whites. Using individuals with PD only, we estimated the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and found endowments explained 61% of employment differences between Whites with PDs and African-Americans with PDs while 39% of these differences were due to unexplained factors. These findings suggest that targeted policies for prevention and effective treatment of PD might yield higher employment benefits for minorities.
KW - Employment
KW - Mental health
KW - Mental illness
KW - Race differentials in employment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=62149152390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soscij.2008.12.012
DO - 10.1016/j.soscij.2008.12.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:62149152390
SN - 0362-3319
VL - 46
SP - 201
EP - 210
JO - Social Science Journal
JF - Social Science Journal
IS - 1
ER -