Mental health behaviors and suicide risk among White and Black adults with Opioid Use Disorder

Hannah S. Szlyk, Daphne Lew, Xiao Li, Lindsey M. Filiatreau, JaNiene Peoples, Erin Kasson and Patricia Cavazos-Rehg

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 381, issue C

Abstract: This study explores differences in depression and anxiety symptoms and suicidal behaviors by symptom severity and race among White and Black adults with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). We examine the viability of using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 symptoms scores to indicate past suicidal behavior by race. We analyze baseline data among individuals who were enrolled in a supplemental digital intervention intended to support adults with OUD in recovery. White (n = 345) or Black (n = 76) individuals were included in the analytic sample. Participants completed an online survey on depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7) symptoms, past 30-day (P30D) suicidal ideation (yes/no), and lifetime suicide attempts (yes/no). Descriptive statistics were calculated; mean symptom scores were compared by race. Race-stratified precision-recall (PR) curves were used to determine the extent to which mental health scores indicated P30D suicidal ideation and the optimal cut points for each measure. Whites had significantly higher depression and anxiety scores than Black participants. When comparing past suicidal behaviors, there were no significant differences by race. A larger proportion of Black participants with moderate or severe depression and anxiety endorsed past suicidal behavior compared to Whites. PR curves and area under the curve values suggested that optimal cut-points for mental health scores as an indicator for suicidal ideation differed by race. Alone, mental health symptom severity and total scores may not be ideal indicators of suicide risk. Mental health screenings plus suicide risk evaluations are recommended for OUD patients, especially Black Americans.

Keywords: Opioid use disorder; Black Americans; Mental health; Suicidal ideation; Suicide attempt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625006148
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:381:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625006148

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118283

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().