Researchers have long assumed that these racial differences in SES make a substantial contribution to racial disparities in health and there is considerable data to assess the role of SES in racial health disparities. Research has found that some of the observed racial disparities in health reflect the effect of differences across population groups in socioeconomic circumstances, but that even after taking SES into account racial disparities in health often remain. For example, a study using national data from the Health Interview Survey linked to the National Death Index found that there were large black-white mortality hazard ratios at the youngest age group (ages 18 through 25) and that these declined but remained substantial up through the over 75 age group.46 Importantly, even after adjustment for SES (income and education), the black-white mortality ratios remained larger than one up through the oldest age categories. A similar pattern is evident across a broad range of outcomes for multiple racial groups. For example, research on post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicates that blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians and Native Hawaiians have higher rates of PTSD than whites that are not accounted for by SES and their history of psychiatric disorders.47
