Sociologists have long struggled to explain the minority mental health paradox: that racial-ethnic minorities often report better mental health than non-Hispanic whites despite social environments that seem less conducive to well-being. Using data from the 2008–2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), this study provides a partial explanation for the paradox rooted in a very different disparity. Evidence from MEPS indicates that non-Hispanic whites consume more pharmaceuticals than racial-ethnic minorities for a wide variety of medical conditions. Moreover, non-Hispanic whites consume more pharmaceuticals that although effective in treating their focal indication, include depression or suicide as a side effect. In models that adjust for the use of such medications, the minority advantage in significant distress is reduced, in some instances to statistical nonsignificance. Although a significant black and Hispanic advantage in a continuous measure of distress remains, the magnitude of the difference is reduced considerably. The relationship between the use of medications with suicide as a side effect and significant distress is especially large, exceeding, for instance, the relationship between poverty and significant distress. For some minority groups, the less frequent use of such medications is driven by better health (as in the case of Asians), whereas for others, it reflects a treatment disparity (as in the case of blacks), although the consequences for the mental health paradox are the same. The implications of the results are discussed, especially with respect to the neglect of psychological side effects in the treatment of physical disease as well as the problem of multiple morbidities.

中文翻译：

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种族少数民族中的药物副作用和心理健康悖论。

社会学家长期以来一直在努力解释少数群体的心理健康悖论：尽管社会环境似乎不利于幸福，但种族少数群体的心理健康状况通常比非西班牙裔白人好。这项研究使用2008-2013年医疗支出小组调查（MEPS）的数据，部分解释了源于迥然不同的差异的悖论。来自MEPS的证据表明，在各种医疗条件下，非西班牙裔白人比种族少数族裔消耗更多的药品。此外，非西班牙裔白人消费更多的药物，这些药物虽然可以有效地治疗其局灶性适应症，但其副作用包括抑郁症或自杀。在针对此类药物的使用进行调整的模型中，严重困扰的少数群体优势有所降低，在某些情况下对统计意义不大。尽管在持续求救方面仍然具有明显的黑人和西班牙裔优势，但差异的幅度已大大降低。使用具有自杀性副作用的药物与严重困扰之间的关系特别大，例如超过了贫困与严重困扰之间的关系。对于某些少数群体而言，这种药物使用频率降低的原因是健康状况好转（例如亚洲人），而对于其他少数群体，这反映出治疗上的差异（例如黑人），尽管这对精神疾病造成了后果。健康悖论是相同的。讨论了结果的含义，