Early Deaths Inside the Nuclear Family: A Much Higher Burden Among Blacks Than Whites

Although it is well established that black people are more likely to die at early ages, no previous study has quantified the number of losses within nuclear families. These researchers studied two U.S. longitudinal cohorts, the Health and Retirement Study (N=34,757; birth years, 1900–1965) and the National Survey of Youth 1997 (N=7617; birth years, 1980–1984). Findings were validated with two other cohorts.

By age 10, blacks compared with non-Hispanic whites had about 3 times greater risk for losing a mother, 2 times greater risk for losing a father, and 20% greater risk for losing a sibling. By age 20, black parents were twice as likely to have lost a child. Blacks by age 30 were 3 times more likely to experience loss of ≥2 nuclear family m…