A new whitepaper from the Brookings Institution shows racial disparities in rates of mental illness, substance use disorder and suicide among older adults. The connections between mental health, functional impairment and financial disadvantages can make aging worse, too, the report finds.
Non-Hispanic Black and lower income older adults are most likely to experience mental illness and substance use disorder, while women are more likely to have mental illness and men are more likely to experience substance use disorder, the authors wrote in the report out this month.
The prevalence of mental illness was mostly the same from 2010 and 2019, and in 2021 (the pandemic interrupted data collection), according to data used for the report. People 85 and up were most likely to have depression, while adults between ages 65 and 74 were most likely to experience alcohol use disorder, data showed. Men had higher suicide rates compared to women across all age groups. Women 85 and up had the lowest suicide rate and men had the highest in that age group.
Social isolation, functional impairment and economic insecurity seem to have a large role in poor mental health and psychological distress. People with depression are more likely to feel lonely often, and are more likely to live alone and have smaller social networks. People who have functional limitations are more likely to have depression and alcohol use disorder. Rates of depression rise as the degree of functional impairment does, and the rates are highest among those with lower income and functional limits.
Other statistics from the report: People with more money have lower rates of depression symptoms compared to those with lower incomes, regardless of disability level. This shows that more wealth probably gives people access to more support, the report noted. Also, individuals with past year serious mental illness are most likely to only have Medicare coverage. Women, non-Hispanic white people and those with higher income are more apt to use mental healthcare, the data showed.
“There are large racial, ethnic, gender, and income disparities in rates of mental illness, substance use disorder and suicide,” the authors wrote. “Additionally, there is a significant connection between mental health, physical impairments, and economic disadvantage — all of which may exacerbate challenges related to aging.”
