Racism is a widespread issue in the United States, resulting in disparities including access to healthcare, life expectancy and homicide rates for Black men. Despite average life expectancy among Americans increasing steadily since 2000, the gap between Black and white life expectancy has widened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pre-pandemic, the overall life expectancy was 79 years for the white population, compared to 75 years for the Black population, according to the National Institute of Health. However, Time Magazine said that in 2022, the overall life expectancy was 71 years for the Black population and 77 years for the white population.
According to University of Wisconsin sociology professor Nicholas Mark, the widening life expectancy gap can largely be attributed to social determinants of health, which serve as critical predictors of life outcomes. Social determinants of health include the living conditions, healthcare systems and social systems that dictate our everyday life.
Professor Mark said this observed difference to a lack of access to education and health begins in early life.
“These differences can be attributed to differences in occupations and working conditions,” Mark said.
Mark said access to education significantly influences one’s career path. Without obtaining an education or being trained in skilled labor, individuals are forced to work dangerous jobs where they can be exposed to toxic chemicals and inadequate working conditions. Obtaining higher education allows for the potential to earn higher salaries and accumulate valuable life skills.
With any type of higher education, the likelihood of being constantly exposed to hazards or enduring an occupation-induced injury is greatly reduced, hence lowering the risk of premature mortality, Mark said.
People of higher socioeconomic statuses also have better access to healthcare and food, which is shown to improve one’s life expectancy, Mark said. In majority Black communities, there are few resources available for students pursuing higher education and little scholarship funds to turn their dreams into reality.
“These differences can be treated in early life,” Mark said.
Early life or in-utero exposures biologically imprint on health that manifests in adulthood, Mark said.
It is also important to note how systemic racism creates a higher allostatic load amongst marginalized communities. The stress inherent in living in a race-conscious society that stigmatizes and disadvantages the Black community causes disproportionate physiological deterioration among racial lines, Mark said. This preempts health to decline at a faster rate and earlier age.
In Chicago, redlining prohibited Black individuals from being able to make the decision on where to rent or purchase a home, forcing many to rely on living in housing projects funded by the government. In 1955, Parkway Gardens was the first housing project built strictly for the Black community in the city, but the neighborhood grew notorious for crime. The area has faced socioeconomic disparities and extreme violence, especially gun violence and homicides, thus residents in this area have a much lower life expectancy when compared with other regions, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Because of our country’s historical past of discriminatory policies, members of the Black community are more likely to not be homeowners and are increasingly susceptible to experiencing instability.
Homicide rates significantly contribute to the disparities in life expectancy. Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs professor Hector Arolas has studied how there was a compression of mortality rates among the Black population up until the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of an increased prevalence of violence. During the pandemic, the Black community experienced a surge in deaths from gun violence, causing the life expectancy gap to widen, Arolas said.
Instead of using a traditional period measure of life expectancy that obscures important disparities, Arolas said using his approach of utilizing exposure-corrected measures of inequality is a better indicator of the inequities at-large. In his co-authored research, Arolas said that age is a confounding variable in most standard period measures of life expectancy.
The Black population is generally younger, and the Black-white mortality gap is more pronounced at younger ages, Arolas said, which highlights the importance of age in studying life expectancy.
With Arolas’ approach, the impact of this variable can be reduced and researchers can get a better glimpse into what drives the Black-white life expectancy gap.
“My approach indicates a greater degree of mortality inequality compared to studies using life expectancy. This is because the Black population is relatively younger and Black-White mortality inequities are more pronounced at younger ages,” Arolas said.
Arolas said in order for change to be made, instituting policies that directly target disadvantaged groups or the causes of death that disproportionately affect them are key. These issues are important to address because they directly affect students here on campus.
UW offers several research communities devoted to studying mortality and morbidity rates of different populations, including the Center for Demography and Ecology and the Center for Demography of Health and Aging.
