Psychological Distress, Feelings of Worthlessness, and Family Life Impairment Among Adults of Different Race Ethnicities and Varying Levels of Educational Attainment

Abstract

The United States population is made up of many different race and ethnicity categories, and as of 2018, approximately 40% of the population identified as racial ethnic minorities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). These diverse groups have different social norms and pressures, family structures, cultural beliefs, and other factors that influence how they view higher education and mental health issues as well as how relationships are developed between family members. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in self-reported psychological distress, feelings of worthlessness, and family life impairment among individuals of different educational levels and in different race and ethnicity categories. This cross-sectional study used secondary data from the 2019 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). One-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were utilized to separately evaluate if there were statistically significant differences in self-reported psychological distress among adults of different race and ethnicity categories and of varying levels of educational attainment. A statistically significant difference was found in self-reported psychological distress amongst adults of different race and ethnicity categories (p = .003) and of varying levels of educational attainment (p = .048). Two-way ANOVAs were used to evaluate differences in self-reported feelings of worthlessness and in self-reported family life impairment among adults experiencing psychological distress of different race and ethnicity categories and levels of educational attainment. A statistically significant difference was found in self-reported feelings of worthlessness among adults of different race and ethnicity categories and levels of educational attainment (p = .016). A statistically significant difference was found in self-reported family life impairment among adults experiencing psychological distress of different race ethnicity categories and levels of educational attainment (p = .041). Though it is clear that higher levels of psychological distress are found in racial and ethnic minorities, further research needs to be conducted to determine which specific factors influence psychological distress in minorities and how they can be addressed.