Ethnic Minority Elderly and the Prevalence of Psychiatric Illnesses

Very little research has focused on current estimates of various psychiatric disorders in older ethnic minority adults. The goal of this paper is to compare lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders among a national sample of older (ages 50 and older) Latinos, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and compared their rates to those of non-Latino Whites. This paper takes advantage of the pooled data from the NIMH Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Studies, the most current and comprehensive national data source available that can be used to study prevalence rates of mental illness among older adults across racial/ethnic minority groups. Significant ethnic group differences were found across several sociodemographic variables (income education, and English proficiency). Non-Latino Whites and Latinos had higher lifetime prevalence rates than the other three groups with the exception of panic disorder, PTSD, or any of the substance use disorders. African-Americans had the highest rates of substance use. Pairwise comparisons provide a better illustration of these results. Exploratory analyses explored lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates for non-Latino White, Latino, Asian-American, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean respondents stratified by nativity. Results of this study are inconsistent with the findings in previous studies. Consistent is that the non-Latino Whites have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse than Asian-Americans, and African-Americans but higher prevalence rates of substance use compared to older non-Latino Whites. Inconsistent with previous work is the comparison between the older Latinos and the non-Latino Whites. Reasons include time in the US and age of migration.