Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data on the Magnitude of Racial Disparities of Depressive Symptoms in the United States

A growing body of research has documented racial disparities in depressive symptoms in the United States, although the precise magnitude on these differences is less well understood. This issue has important implications for informing public health policy, and developing and administering prevention and intervention strategies. In this protocol, we propose a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data from nationally representative studies from the United States drawn from Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Our three aims are to: 1) Estimate the overall average difference of depressive symptoms between Whites and minorities, as well as between- (e.g., African-Americans, Latinos) and within- (e.g., Latinos: Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans) minority groups; 2) Determine if age, sex, education, income, occupation, socioeconomic status, and other variables account for these differences; 3) Test the cultural differences and similarities hypotheses. We argue that these health disparities are the result of social inequalities.