Exploring Causes of Depression and Anxiety Health Disparities (HD) by Examining Differences between 1:1 Matched Individuals.

ABSTRACT: Poor comparability of social groups is one of the major methodological problems that threatens the validity of health disparities (HD) research findings. We illustrate a methodological solution that can additionally unpack the mechanisms behind differential effects on depression and anxiety. We describe racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of depression and anxiety scores between Black and White women using classic methods, and then we illustrate a 1:1 matching procedure that allows for building of individual-level difference scores, i.e., actual HD difference score variables, for each pair of comparable participants. We compare the prevalence of depression disorder between Black and White young women after matching them 1:1 on common socio-economic characteristics (age, employment,

SUBMITTER: Coman EN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6315655 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature