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. 2021 Jan 1;7(1):101-115.
doi: 10.1177/2332649220911387. Epub 2020 Mar 18.

"Yes We Can!" The Mental Health Significance for U.S. Black Adults of Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Election

Tony N Brown  1 , Alexa Solazzo  2 , Bridget K Gorman  1
Affiliations

"Yes We Can!" The Mental Health Significance for U.S. Black Adults of Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Election

Tony N Brown et al. Sociol Race Ethn (Thousand Oaks). .

Abstract

This study examines the mental health significance of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election for black adults. His election was a milestone moment. Hence, we expect black adults would experience improved mental health after the first self-identified black person wins election to the most powerful position in the United States. Using nationally representative survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), we address this expectation by predicting poor mental health days that black adults report pre-election and post-election. We find no overall difference in poor mental health days between the time periods. However, a statistical interaction between gender and time period demonstrates black men report 1.01 fewer poor mental health days after the election, whereas black women report .45 more poor mental health days after the election.

Keywords: BRFSS; Barack Obama; gender; mental health; quasi-experiment; social determinants of health; symbolic empowerment.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Time Periods Before and After Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Election on November 4, 2008
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Predicted Poor Mental Health Days among Black Adults by Time Periods Before and After Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Election and Gender Using Nationally Representative Survey Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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