Abstract
Amidst increasing focus on rising rates of substance abuse and suicide among white Americans and extending prior research on intergroup attitudes and health, this study examines a novel factor associated with psychological distress: disagreement with multiculturalism. Using the Portraits of American Life Study (N = 2,292), logistic regressions indicate that for Whites and Hispanics, increased likelihood of psychological distress (depression, hopelessness and worthlessness) is associated with stronger disagreement with multiculturalism, measured as “If we want to create a society where people get along, we must recognize that each ethnic group has the right to maintain its own unique traditions.” For Blacks, however, attitudes toward multiculturalism are not associated with psychological distress. Future research might determine if these results can be replicated, and if so, identify the causal mechanism(s) at work.
Highlights
Recent studies have identified an increasing trend in death rates among white Americans [1,2,3,4]
Amidst increasing focus on rising rates of substance abuse and suicide among white Americans and extending prior research on intergroup attitudes and health, this study examines a novel factor associated with psychological distress: disagreement with multiculturalism
Seventy percent expressed at least some agreement with the tenets of multiculturalism, which is suggestive of its ascendant status
Summary
Recent studies have identified an increasing trend in death rates among white Americans [1,2,3,4]. These deaths have often been tied to substance abuse and suicide, or “deaths of despair” [2, 4]. Researchers have described this rise in death rates among white Americans as akin to an “epidemic of hopelessness” [5] or an “epidemic of despair” [4], while Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton has stated, “It’s a loss of hope” [6]. White-majority spaces have even been tied to an increase among non-white populations in the risk of nonmedical prescription painkiller misuse; longitudinal data revealed that black youth who attended majority-white schools were at higher risk a decade later of non-medical prescription
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