What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine how much of the mental health gap experienced by ethnic minority women is driven by differences in social determinants versus differential returns to those determinants.

August 19, 2026International Journal for Equity in HealthOpen Access

Decomposing mental health inequities: an Oaxaca-Blinder analysis of ethnic and gender disparities in the UK

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Authors

FHF Valeria Herrera GMGiuseppe Migali CMCéu Mateus

Discussion

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Overview

Longitudinal decomposition analysis uncovers significant mental health disparities in ethnic minority women, indicating that social determinants and differential returns drive outcome gaps.

Key Points

To determine how much of the mental health gap experienced by ethnic minority women is driven by differences in social determinants versus differential returns to those determinants.
Analyzed pooled data from 14 waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2024), comprising 291,711 person-wave observations from 50,336 unique individuals.
Measured mental health using the SF-12 Mental Component Summary and the GHQ-12 Likert scale.
Applied Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition with pooled coefficients to isolate explained components from unexplained differential vulnerability across ethnic minority women, the general population, and white women.
Ethnic minority women scored 1.83 points lower on the SF-12 (p < 0.001) and 0.81 points higher on the GHQ-12 (p < 0.001) relative to the broader population.
Differences in social characteristics (notably age, home ownership, marital status, and neighborhood cohesion) accounted for 38% to 91% of the SF-12 gap across sensitivity analyses.
The within-women contrast showed a non-significant raw gap of 0.60 points (p = 0.13), while disaggregated models revealed distinct patterns, such as vulnerability driving Asian women's distress and compositional disadvantage driving Black women's gaps.

Cite This Study

Herrera et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a85643903308d306e2d7d1a https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-026-02980-2

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August 19, 2026International Journal for Equity in HealthOpen Access

Decomposing mental health inequities: an Oaxaca-Blinder analysis of ethnic and gender disparities in the UK

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

FHF Valeria Herrera GMGiuseppe Migali CMCéu Mateus

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Longitudinal decomposition analysis uncovers significant mental health disparities in ethnic minority women, indicating that social determinants and differential returns drive outcome gaps.

Key Points

To determine how much of the mental health gap experienced by ethnic minority women is driven by differences in social determinants versus differential returns to those determinants.
Analyzed pooled data from 14 waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2024), comprising 291,711 person-wave observations from 50,336 unique individuals.
Measured mental health using the SF-12 Mental Component Summary and the GHQ-12 Likert scale.
Applied Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition with pooled coefficients to isolate explained components from unexplained differential vulnerability across ethnic minority women, the general population, and white women.
Ethnic minority women scored 1.83 points lower on the SF-12 (p < 0.001) and 0.81 points higher on the GHQ-12 (p < 0.001) relative to the broader population.
Differences in social characteristics (notably age, home ownership, marital status, and neighborhood cohesion) accounted for 38% to 91% of the SF-12 gap across sensitivity analyses.
The within-women contrast showed a non-significant raw gap of 0.60 points (p = 0.13), while disaggregated models revealed distinct patterns, such as vulnerability driving Asian women's distress and compositional disadvantage driving Black women's gaps.

Cite This Study

Herrera et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a85643903308d306e2d7d1a https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-026-02980-2

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