Manuscript accepted

The following manuscript was accepted for publication in the mentored issue of Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation which will be out in June 2012.

1. Brown, S., Saunders, L.L., & Krause, J.S. (in press). Racial disparities in depression and life satisfaction after spinal cord injury: A mediational model. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation.

The first author, Simon Brown, was a medical student who worked with our team during the summer of 2010. The manuscript was supported by the RRTC grant (H133B090005), the DRRP grant (H133A080064), the NIDRR 10year grant (H133G050165), and the NIH 10year grant (1R01 NS 48117).

ABSTRACT:
Purpose: To identify the relationship of race and gender with 3 aspects of life satisfaction and depressive symptoms among participants with spinal cord injury (SCI), evaluating the extent to which socioeconomic factors mediate any observed relationships.
Methods: Data for this cross-sectional survey were collected at a Medical University in the Southeastern United States. Participants included 1549 adults with traumatic SCI of at least 1 year duration who were identified through a Southeastern United States SCI Model System of care. Three aspects of life satisfaction (home life satisfaction, vocational satisfaction, global satisfaction) were measured using the 20 satisfaction items from the Life Situation Questionnaire-Revised. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Older Adult Health and Mood Questionnaire. MANCOVA was used to assess mediation of socioeconomic status between race and life satisfaction and depression.
Results: Home life satisfaction and vocational satisfaction were significantly related to race, with white participants scoring higher than black participants during the first stage of the regression analysis. However, socioeconomic factors mediated the relationships such that race was no longer significant after considering economic factors. Race still was significantly associated with global satisfaction after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. Depression was not significantly related to race. Gender was unrelated to all study outcomes. Of the socioeconomic mediators, family income was a significant predictor of each outcome, whereas education was only predictive of vocational satisfaction.
Conclusion: Socioeconomic factors are important mediators of the relationship between race and some, but not all, aspects of life satisfaction among those with SCI. Family income and, to a lesser extent, education should be considered when evaluating race differences in life satisfaction after SCI.
Keywords: spinal cord injury; health status disparities; depression; socioeconomic factors