Poverty, Race/Ethnicity, and Psychiatric Disorder: A Study of Rural Children
E. Jane Costello, PhD,
Gordon P. Keeler, MS and
Adrian Angold, MRCPsych
The authors are with the Developmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to E. Jane Costello, PhD, Center for Developmental Epidemiology, Box 3454, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710 (e-mail: jcostell{at}psych.mc.duke.edu).
Objectives. This study examined the effect of poverty on theprevalence of psychiatric disorder in rural Black and Whitechildren.
Methods. A representative sample of 541 Black children and 379White children aged 9 to 17 was drawn from 4 predominantly ruralcounties. Structured interviews with parents and children collectedinformation on psychiatric disorders, absolute and relativepoverty, and risk factors for psychiatric disorder.
Results. Three-month prevalence of psychiatric disorder wassimilar to that found in other community samples (20%). Federalcriteria for poverty were met by 18% of the White and 52% ofthe Black families. Black and White children were exposed toequal numbers of risk factors overall, but the association betweenpoverty and psychopathology was stronger for White children(odds ratio [OR] = 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1,4.2) than for Black children (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.9, 2.6).Family history of mental illness, poor parenting, and residentialinstability mediated this association in both groups.
Conclusions. In this rural sample, poverty was only weakly associatedwith child psychiatric disorders. Risk factors for both racial/ethnicgroups were family mental illness, multiple moves, lack of parentalwarmth, lax supervision, and harsh punishment.
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