Social integration and mental health in a biracial community

The study investigated the relationship between social integration and mental health, with a particular interest in social integration in a minority group context. The study involved a home interview with 33 white and 30 black women who resided in a residentially integrated working-class community in Austin, Texas. Although blacks reported significantly more psychological symptoms than whites, the race effect was explained by an underlying interaction between race and social integration. Blacks low in social integration showed more symptoms than either white respondents or blacks with a high level of integration. The Race X Social integration interaction is considered in the light of societally based prejudice and the potential social stress associated with minority group status.