Reevaluating the “Deaths of Despair” Narrative: Racial/Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Trend of Psychological Distress-Related Death

In a journal article for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States of America, Zheng and Choi (2024) evaluate how psychological distress contributes to mortality rates among different racial groups, challenging the narrative of “deaths of despair” as synonymous to drug-, alcohol-, and suicide (DAS)-related deaths among young white men.

Hui Zheng is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His current projects address rising health challenges in the U.S., and nativity disparities in labor market outcomes, aging, and health.

Citation

Zheng, H., & Choi, Y. (2024). Reevaluating the “deaths of despair” narrative: Racial/ethnic heterogeneity in the trend of psychological distress-related death. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 121(8). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2307656121

Abstract

Despite the significant scientific advancement in deciphering the “deaths of despair” narrative, most relevant studies have focused on drug-, alcohol-, and suicide-related (DAS) deaths. This study directly investigated despair as a determinant of death and the temporal variation and racial heterogeneity among individuals…[Our] findings suggest that 1) DAS-related deaths underestimated the mortality consequence of despair for Whites and Blacks but overestimated it for Hispanics; and 2) despair partially contributed to the DAS trend among Whites but probably not for Blacks and Hispanics.