An article co-authored by Associate Professor of Sociology Matthew Grace and Danny Lee ’23 was recently published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. Titled “Racialized Exposure to Multiple COVID-19 deaths and their Consequences for Mental Health,” the article examines how racial-ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality have translated into racial differences in bereavement.
Grace and Lee found that Black and Latine individuals were significantly more likely than White and Asian people to experience multiple losses in their social networks due to the pandemic. “Those who experienced multiple losses were significantly more likely to report different forms of psychological distress, including higher levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and anger,” they said.
They also documented evidence showing that the association between COVID-19 losses and distress was amplified, or strengthened, among Latine respondents relative to both White and Black respondents.
Noting that “because prior research suggests that social support—and especially family support—is so vital to the higher levels of psychological wellbeing often found among Latinos relative to other ethnoracial groups,” Grace and Lee speculate that “these losses may also represent the erosion of a vital coping resource for members of this group.”
Lee recently started the Ph.D. in Sociology program at Indiana University.
Posted September 18, 2025
