Although a growing body of research has documented racial/ethnic disparities in depressive symptoms in the United States, the precise magnitude of these differences is not known. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data to (1) estimate the average difference of depressive symptoms between Whites and racial/ethnic minorities, as well as differences between (i.e., Asian American, African American, Latinxs, Multiracial, Native American, other race) and within (i.e., Latinx: Central American, Cuban American, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, other Latinx) minority groups, and (2) determine if moderators account for these differences. We screened 2,425 nationally-representative studies from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), and identified 127 datasets of studies conducted from 1971 to 2018. We included 73 datasets from 26 nationally-representative studies (N = 2,116,853). The average absolute difference was d = 0.09, 95% CI [0.07, 0.12] between White and minority participants; was d = 0.07, 95% CI [0.06, 0.09] between minority participants; and d = 0.10, 95% CI [0.06, 0.15] within minority Latinx participants. Increases in socioeconomic status exacerbated these disparities. Psychometric analyses showed that measure reliability was related to larger differences. We discuss the implications of these findings.
Apathy and depressive symptoms in older people and incident myocardial infarction, stroke, and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data
