Health disparities, gotta love ‘em. It’s desperately hard work figuring out why one group of people have different health status, outcomes or treatment than another. Could it really be something as simple as the color of their skin or their country of origin? As far as some researchers can tell, it is. In some cases there is something about the difference itself that causes the difference. In other cases it is the social position of the group with the difference that causes it.
This study looks at the convergence of race, economic status and depression. I haven’t read the article itself and so present it with some trepidation. These are very complicated issues. Too small a sample may result in unmerited generalizations. Too large a sample can muddy up the conclusions. It’s difficult to find samples that don’t lend themselves to stereotyping. Finding samples that break down cleanly into categories is tough. Are the categories artificially imposed? If so, they may be meaningless to the research.
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