School racial/ethnic composition, effect modification by caring teacher/staff presence, and mid-/late-life depressive symptoms: findings from the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans.
Am J Epidemiol
; 193(9): 1253-1260, 2024 Sep 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38634611
ABSTRACT
For Black students in the United States, attending schools with a higher proportion of White students is associated with worse mental and physical health outcomes in adolescence/early adulthood. To our knowledge, no prior studies have evaluated the association between school racial/ethnic composition from kindergarten through grade 12 and later-life mental health. In a cohort of Black adults aged ≥50 years in Northern California who retrospectively reported (2017-2020) school racial/ethnic composition for grades 1, 6, 9, and 12, we assessed the association between attending a school with mostly Black students versus not and mid-/late-life depressive symptoms (8-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) depression score, standardized to the 2000 US adult population) using age-, sex/gender-, southern US birth-, and parental education-adjusted generalized estimating equations, and assessed effect modification by the presence of a caring teacher/staff member. Levels of later-life depressive symptoms were lower among those who attended schools with mostly Black students in grades 1 and 6 (ß = -0.12 [95% CI, -0.23 to 0.00] and ß = -0.11 [95% CI, -0.22 to 0.00], respectively). In grade 6, this difference was larger for students without an adult at school who cared about them (ß = -0.29 [95% CI, -0.51 to -0.07] vs ß = -0.04 [95% CI, -0.17 to 0.09]). Among Black Americans, experiencing early schooling with mostly Black students may have later-life mental health benefits; this protective association appears more important for students without the presence of caring teachers/staff. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Negro ou Afro-Americano
/
Depressão
Limite:
Adolescent
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Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Epidemiol
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos