Racial Congruity Research Paper

Summary: This paper focuses on the psychological effects of a person’s racial congruity. In the paper, “racial congruity” means “the extent to which an individual is racially similar to the aggregate of persons residing within his or her residential area” (Tweed et al 392-393). The hypothesis of the study was that people who resided in areas where they were a part of the dominant racial group would not suffer from as much depression as those residing in areas not like that. When a person lives in an area where they are a minority, they are likely to be subjected to suspicion and prejudice, and it is harder for them to form social support systems. It is also suspected that these effects will be more detrimental to racial groups that experience
more wide-spread prejudice. In a study done by Levy and Rowitz, it was found that blacks living in predominantly white areas had a higher risk of being hospitalized for mental issues (and vice versa). However, there are questions about if that data is sound. Tweed and the others sought to use epidemiological surveys to see if this was a true phenomenon. The dependent variable was if depression was experienced (depressed mood and major depressive episodes), and it was suspected that depressed moods would be strongly associated with low racial congruity. The independent variables were derived from the EBMHS data include the respondent's race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status, and all were used as controls because of their varying significance to the study. The census based independent variables were a person’s race (black or white) and what their community consisted of mainly. In each of the 18 comparisons made, the prevalence rate of depression is lower for those who are highly congruent with their residential context. This is true whether the respondent is male or female, young or old, and regardless of personal income. However, the effects tended to be higher for black respondents than for whites.