AbstractThe relationship between race and psychiatric impairment was examined with regard to three measures of psychiatric status. Data on the Health Opinion Survey, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies‐Depression Scale, and the General Well‐Being Schedule collected on a rural Tennessee sample (n= 713) indicated a significant zero‐order relationship between race and impairment only for the depression index. No race differences were obtained when controls for SES‐related variables were instituted. The data support the recent suggestion that higher levels of impairment among blacks may be an artifact of social class s