On Fri, 7 Dec 2001, David Epstein wrote: > Found this in my weekly check of BMJ. Interesting. > > Schizophrenia in ethnic minorities is more common in white neighbourhoods > > "The incidence of schizophrenia among non-white people increases > significantly as the proportion of non-white ethnic minorities in a > particular area falls. Boydell et al (pB 1336) found that as the > proportion of non-white ethnic minorities in electoral wards in > London fell, the incidence of schizophrenia in these groups > rose. These results were not explained by deprivation. Increased > exposure to or decreased protection from overt discrimination, > institutional racism, inequality, or isolation are possible > explanations." > > Full text: > http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7325/1336
There's also an item about it on BBC news under the heading "Schizophrenia linked to racism" at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1695000/1695760.stm That title is, predictably, misleading. What they found was a link between schizophrenia in ethnic minorities and electoral wards, and their _explanation_ of that link was racism. It seems the only possibility they cared to advance was that the stress of living in a racist-prone White area somehow induced schizophrenia. In actuality, it's a correlation, and given the complexity of the statistic, it's even less well-advised than usual to jump to any particular conclusion about causation. One thing that strikes me is that people self-select where to live, so we're not dealing with random assortment of individuals to electoral districts. As a counter-proposal, how about the argument that those with schizophrenia or who are about to develop it care less than others about going where they're not wanted. Or they may just be oblivious to such social concerns. Either way, they're more likely to move to racist White areas. I see that the authors try to counter the self-selection argument by saying that most lived in public housing, and presumably had no say in where they were to live. But I wonder how carefully they examined this claim. It seems reasonable to me that if you were non-White and socially-aware, you would strongly object to moving to a racist White area to live. But if you were schizophrenic and socially out-of-it, you couldn't care less. Another possibility is that non-Whites could be more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic if living in a White area, either because medical attention is better there, or because of a bias in making that diagnosis in non-Whites in those districts. The authors do note that "differential ascertainment" was a "weakness" in their study. So bottom line is that the racial stress hypothesis is an interesting speculation but no more than that. Unfortunately, it's sure to be treated in the press as a done deal. -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
