The rise of “deaths of hopelessness” has been thought to provide an important source of negative death experiences for some groups in the early 21st century. This study examines this possibility and reveals the following basic findings. First, mental health deteriorated between 1993 and 2019 in all subgroups of the population examined. Second, this decline has increased the mortality rate and contributed to the worse mortality experienced by short-term non-Hispanic whites and, to a lesser extent, Blacks from 1999-2019. However, mental health deterioration is not the main explanation for them. Third, to the extent that this relationship supports the general view of “deaths of despair”, the specific causes that link it must be broader and more diverse than previously recognized: it still includes drug deaths and possibly alcohol-related deaths but instead of suicide and deaths from heart disease, it has decreased. respiratory causes, homicide, and cancer are considered. Fourth, variation in the effects of a given increase in poor mental health is generally more important than the size of changes in poor mental health in explaining Black-White differences in the overall effects of mental health on mortality.
Written by Christopher J. Ruhm.
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