Mental Health Help-Seeking Profiles Among African Americans: Exploring the Influence of Religion

African Americans with mental health problems consult a variety of sources for assistance. Most studies report a preference for informal sources rather than professional sources of help with mental health concerns. While it is clear that African Americans seek help from both informal and professional sources, less known is whether there are unique subpopulations of African Americans that can be defined by their support and services use. Given the importance of religion in the lives of African Americans, it also important to understand the role of religious involvement in determining help-seeking behaviors. This study used latent class analysis and data from the National Survey of American Life (n = 1315) to identify distinct profiles of help-seeking behavior among African Americans with mental health disorders defined by informal (e.g., clergy, family, and friends) and professional sources (e.g., health and mental healthcare providers) of support and services. Findings revealed two help-seeking classes: Low Use/Informal Support (95%) and High Use/All Support (5%). Low subjective religious involvement was associated with membership in the Low Use/Informal Support class. High non-organizational religious involvement was associated with membership in the High Use/All Support class. No associations between demographic characteristics were found between the two classes. Findings highlight heterogeneity in help-seeking behavior among African Americans and the importance of considering multiple domains of religious involvement in influencing these behaviors. Findings highlight the importance of collaborative efforts between religious institutions, health and mental healthcare providers, family and friendship networks in the delivery of mental health care to African Americans.     

Discrimination and Help-Seeking: Use of Professional Services and Informal Support Among African Americans,Black Caribbeans,and Non-Hispanic Whites with a Mental Disorder

This study used data from the National Survey of American Life to investigate the use of professional services and informal support among African Americans, black Caribbeans, and non-Hispanic whites. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association of race and perceived discrimination with the use of professional services only, informal support only, both professional services and informal support, or no help at all. Fifty-one percent of the sample used both professional services and informal support, 16% relied on professional services only, 20% used informal support only, and 13% did not seek help. Before controlling for other factors, African Americans and black Caribbeans were significantly less likely to receive either professional or informal help compared with whites. When everyday racial discrimination was included, racial differences in not seeking help were no longer significant. Household income also influenced the relationship between race and help-seeking. Other factors significantly associated with help-seeking include age, gender, education, employment status, insurance coverage, type and severity of disorder, and subjective closeness to family and friends. The association of these factors and implication of the findings for future research and mental health service delivery will be discussed.     

Perceptions of African American College Applicants: The Roles of Race, Criminal History, and Qualifications

African Americans are under-represented in higher education and disproportionately represented among offender populations, with poor educational obtainment a risk factor for criminal behavior. While African American students report low acceptance from Caucasian peers that can influence their educational persistence, few studies have examined Caucasian students’ perceptions of African American students, while examining the influence of race and criminal history. This study endeavored to begin to fill this gap. Students evaluated 1 of 24 hypothetical college applicants, manipulated by race, arrest record, and academic qualifications. Results showed that hypothetical Caucasian applicants benefited from no criminal record when evaluated by Caucasian students, and received higher ratings than Caucasian applicants with a drug arrest record and African American applicants with any criminal record. When evaluated by Caucasian students, African American applicants with no criminal record were no more likely to be accepted than Caucasian or African American applicants with a criminal record. In addition, Caucasian students felt more comfortable around the Caucasian applicant with a DWI arrest over the African American applicant with the same arrest. Racial preference for Caucasian applicants by Caucasian participants also emerged when qualifications were mixed (e.g., low GPA/high ACT). These racial differences did not emerge when ethnic minority students rated these same applicants. Yet, when Caucasian students were asked why they chose their ratings, race was never mentioned. These results support research that African American students can experience race-based barriers in higher education by Caucasian peers, but in a form that is less overt and not readily acknowledged.     

Heart Trouble and Racial Group Identity: Exploring Ethnic Heterogeneity Among Black Americans

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States, and compared to other racial and ethnic groups, Blacks between the ages of 45 and 65 have the highest likelihood of dying from heart disease. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about intragroup variation among the US Black population. In this study, utilizing a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, we examine the relationship between heart trouble and racial group identity for two groups of Blacks: African Americans and Caribbean Blacks. We include two measures of racial group identity: closeness to other Blacks and Black group evaluation. Our results reveal three important patterns. First, closeness to other Blacks is suppressed by Black group evaluation. Second, at low levels of closeness to other Blacks, there is little difference between African Americans and Caribbean Blacks in the probability of heart trouble. However, as closeness to other Blacks increases, the probability of heart trouble increases for African Americans, but decreases for Caribbean Blacks. Finally, with respect to positive Black group evaluation, both African Americans and Caribbean Blacks benefit and experience a lower probability of heart trouble.     

Seeking Help from Clergy Among Black Caribbeans in the United States

This study examined use of clergy for serious personal problems within a representative sample of US black Caribbean adults from the National Survey of American Life. Logistic regression analysis was used and confirmed the importance of problem type, church involvement, and nativity as correlates of clergy use. Findings for black Caribbeans indicate similarities, as well as important departures from prior research on the correlates of clergy assistance among African Americans. These and other findings confirm the position of black Caribbeans as a distinctive ethnic subgroup within the general black population in the United States.     

Differences Between African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites Utilization of Clergy for Counseling with Serious Personal Problems

There is a paradox in research on African Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the utilization of clergy. Research finds that African Americans have higher levels of religious service attendance and higher levels of contact with clergy. Research also finds that despite this, African Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to seek out assistance from clergy for psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety. The goal of this paper was to investigate race differences in the use of clergy for counseling for serious personal problems. It uses the National Survey of American Life. We find that non-Hispanic whites were more likely than African Americans to use clergy for a serious personal problem. The significant difference between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites appeared to be mediated by the fact that African Americans were more likely to have seen clergy in a religious setting and non-Hispanic whites were more likely to have seen clergy in other settings including hospitals.     

A Clearer Picture of Multiracial Substance Use: Rates and Correlates of Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Multiracial Adolescents and Adults

Existing studies indicate that multiracial adolescents face greater substance use rates than monoracial adolescents. However, it is unclear whether the risk identified in adolescence persists into adulthood. The current study uses data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey to analyze the alcohol and tobacco use of multiracial adolescents and adults compared to European American, African American, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and Latino American individuals. Results generally support the hypothesis that multiracial adolescents and adults face higher rates of substance use than African American and Asian/Pacific Islander American individuals, though this pattern of results was reversed in comparison with Native Americans and European Americans, and less consistent compared to Latino Americans. We further establish and discuss the correlates of drinking and smoking behavior for mixed-race individuals—comparing them to other racial groups. We review the limitations of our design and the implications for future research on multiracial substance use.     

The Relationship Between Skin Tone and School Suspension for African Americans

This study contributes to the research literature on colorism–discrimination based on skin tone—by examining whether skin darkness affects the likelihood that African Americans will experience school suspension. Using data from The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, logistic regression analyses indicated that darker skin tone significantly increased the odds of suspension for African American adolescents. Closer inspection of the data revealed that this overall result was disproportionately driven by the experiences of African American females. The odds of suspension were about 3 times greater for young African American women with the darkest skin tone compared to those with the lightest skin. This finding was robust to the inclusion of controls for parental SES, delinquent behavior, academic performance, and several other variables. Furthermore, this finding was replicated using similar measures in a different sample of African Americans from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The results suggest that discrimination in school discipline goes beyond broad categories of race to include additional distinctions in skin tone.     

A test of racial conceptualization between African Americans and indigenous Africans

Studies were conducted to assess the significance of the concept of race in interpersonal attraction and self-identification comparing African Americans and native Ghanaians. An adaptation of the Bogardus Scale (1926) was used to measure interpersonal attraction. A self-identification questionnaire developed by the principal author was used to measure self-identification. The samples consisted of 366 native Ghanaians residing in Ghana and 113 African Americans residing in Northern New Jersey. The results show that when making judgments about interpersonal attraction to different ethnic and racial groups as well as in self-identification, African American respondents attributed more psychological significance to the concept of race than Ghanaian respondents did. Racial group membership and cultural kinships were strongly related to interpersonal attraction and self-identification for African American respondents. They attributed more significance to racial group membership in judging self-identification and interpersonal attraction toward other African Americans compared with other groups. On the other hand, in judging interpersonal attraction toward other groups, African American respondents attributed more significance to cultural reference factors than racial group membership. Ghanaians perceived nationality and cultural kinships as more significant than racial group membership in their reported interpersonal attraction to groups represented in this work Ghanaian respondents did not perceive racial group membership as a significant factor in making judgments about interpersonal attraction and self-identification.     

Support and setback: how religion and religious organisations shape the incorporation of unaccompanied indigenous youth

Churches are recognised as pillars of solidarity and support within immigrant communities but rarely in regard to youths’ social incorporation. Drawing on 24 months of participant observation of two Catholic churches and in-depth interviews with unaccompanied Guatemalan Maya youth church members in a Los Angeles, California community, this study examines the role of the church and religion in youth’s incorporation trajectories. I find that the church and its religious practices provide unaccompanied youth with spaces and resources of incorporation support. Over time, youth also experience financial and socioemotional setback as they become involved in church subunits that are organised by an ethnoracial hierarchy that disparages indigenous Latinos, require financial contributions, and teach reliance on God to change one’s circumstances. This study shows that immigrant-serving organisations can unwittingly reproduce inequality when they offer individualised solutions to structural marginalisation. Findings also demonstrate that incorporation is as much a socio-economic process as a socioemotional one, as immigrant youths’ mental and emotional health instability can impinge on their social participation.     

Goal-Striving Stress and Racial Differences in Mental Health

This study investigated the associations among goal-striving stress, racial related stressors, and mental health. Goal-striving stress was defined as the discrepancy between aspiration for and achievement of a better way of life, weighted by the subjective probability of success, and the level of disappointment experienced if those life goals were not realized. Data are from the National Survey of American Life’s African American (N = 3,570) and non-Hispanic white (N = 891) adult samples. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between goal-striving stress and five mental health outcomes: happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, psychological distress, and depressive symptoms. After controlling for socio-demographic factors, a personal problems checklist, and racial discrimination, goal-striving stress was significantly related to all mental health measures such that as goal-striving stress increased, mental health worsened. Additionally, the relationship of goal-striving stress to mental health was found to be conditional upon race. Specifically, goal-striving stress had a stronger effect among white Americans than African Americans. Goal-striving stress was associated differentially with lower levels of mental health for black and white Americans. Racial differences in the impact of goal-striving stress suggest a need for analyses exploring resilience and coping in relation to the impact of goal-striving stress on black–white differences in mental health.     

Food Stamp Program Participation Among Impoverished African Americans

This study identifies the characteristics of eligible African Americans who are not receiving food stamps. Secondary analysis of the American Community Survey focused on 14,443 African American citizens aged 18 and over who were living below the poverty line. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to compare the 6,558 recipients of food stamps with the 7,885 non-recipients. Less than half of impoverished African American adults used food stamps in the previous year. Food stamp use was higher among females, younger respondents, and those who had not completed high school. FSP participation was associated with co-residing with children, receiving welfare benefits and reports of functional limitations. This study can inform food security activism and improved outreach to impoverished African Americans.     

The Role of Historical Knowledge in Perception of Race-Based Conspiracies

We test the hypothesis that knowledge of historically documented, anti-black conspiracies affects perceived plausibility of new, anti-black conspiracies. In Experiment 1 (N = 78), African Americans and European Americans read about a current conspiracy aimed at undermining either African American or European American–elected officials. African Americans perceived the anti-black conspiracy as more plausible and the conspiracy informant as more credible than did European Americans. The difference in perception of informant credibility was mediated by recognition of historically documented, anti-black conspiracies. In Experiment 2, we manipulated European Americans’ (N = 105) exposure to information about historically documented, anti-black conspiracies. European Americans who learned about actual, past anti-black conspiracies perceived new anti-black conspiracies as more plausible than did European Americans who learned about race-silent conspiracies or who did not learn about conspiracies. To the extent that European Americans lack awareness of incidents of racism in US history, they are likely to underestimate the possibility that racism impacts contemporary events.     

African American faculty expressing concerns: breaking the silence at predominantly white research oriented universities

A Delphi method was used with a panel of 24 African American faculty employed at 43 predominantly white doctoral extensive universities to arrive at a group consensus on a list of concerns that African American faculty in general experienced or held. Using the Delphi method a panel of African American faculty initially worked from a list of eight concerns (i.e., lack of mentor; little guidance about the tenure and promotion process; social isolation and lack of collegiality; excessive and token committee assignments; research viewed as trivial and discounted; little guidance about the academic workplace; limited opportunities to participate in departmental and institutional decision making; and infrequent occasions to assume leadership positions) to the development of a list of 13 concerns after employing three rounds of the Delphi method. The implication from the expressing of these concerns is that universities have a portion of their faculty that are yet experiencing racism, subtle and even overt discrimination. This study serves as a clarion call that some universities are not being as successful at achieving diversity and inclusiveness as they declare or think.     

A Paradox of Bias: Racial Differences in Forensic Psychiatric Diagnosis and Determinations of Criminal Responsibility

Although there is substantial evidence that African Americans receive unequal treatment in both the healthcare and criminal justice systems, less research has investigated the role of race when these two systems converge. Here, we examine the influence of race on patterns of forensic psychiatric diagnosis and determinations of criminal responsibility in pre-trial correctional facilities (e.g., forensic psychiatric hospitals). Data are from a medical chart review of 129 randomly selected competency evaluations that occurred in a pre-trial correctional psychiatric facility. Consistent with previous research, findings indicate that African Americans are disproportionately diagnosed with highly stigmatized psychotic spectrum disorders relative to whites. In addition, they unexpectedly indicate that African Americans are significantly more likely than whites to be found not criminally responsible by the court-appointed evaluating mental health professional, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, number of violent and non-violent charges, and other potential confounding variables. Mediation analysis reveals the important and previously undocumented finding that the effect of race on criminal responsibility determinations is fully mediated by differential diagnosis. This suggests that patterns of racial inequality and potential bias in the diagnostic process may confer medical resources and other benefits for African Americans in the context of the criminal justice system.     

Remapping American-ness: Heritage Production and the Staging of the Native American and the African American as Other in 'Historyland'

The American tourism industry in the 1950s helped to produce certain notions of America, or what it meant to be American, at a time when these identities were in flux. Visitors to 'Historyland', an attraction that reconstructed a nineteenth-century Wisconsin logging town, could experience a living lumberjack community, as well as an 'authentic' Indian Village and a dining car restaurant with black waiters. The Native Americans and African Americans, by performing their 'historic' roles, were staged as examples of 'the other' which European American tourists could encounter, and against which they could define their own sense of American-ness.     

Beyond conventional wisdom: community cultural wealth and the college knowledge of African American youth in the United States

African American youth are generally as likely as their peers from other racial and ethnic groups to aspire to earn a college degree; yet, in spite of their aspirations these students remain under-represented in college enrollment and graduation. Part of the disparity between these students’ aspirations and the realization of their goals may lie in their minimal college knowledge and nominal participation in postsecondary preparatory activities that have frequently been caused by the historic, and ongoing, systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans. During interviews, college students reflected on how similarly-aged family members, peers, co-workers, and parishioners assisted with various aspects of college preparation and enrollment. The community cultural wealth framework helps us understand the reason for, and importance of, this ‘lateral mentorship’ in the fulfillment of these students’ college aspirations. Consequently, educators and educational systems are challenged to be more responsive to the college preparatory needs of traditionally under-represented college-going populations.     

The Moderating Effects of Skin Color and Ethnic Identity Affirmation on Suicide Risk among Low-SES African American Women

This study examined the influence of concurrent racism and sexism experiences (i.e., gendered racism) on African American women’s suicidal ideation and behavior in the context of disadvantaged socioeconomic status. Drawing on a stress process framework, the moderating effects of ethnic identity and skin color were explored using multiple regression analyses. Data were from 204 low-income African American women in the B-WISE (Black Women in a Study of Epidemics) project. Findings suggested that experiencing gendered racism significantly increased these women’s risk for suicidal ideation or behavior, though only among women with medium or dark skin color. Also, having strong ethnic identity buffered the harmful effects of gendered racism. The moderating properties of skin color and ethnic identity affirmation likely operate through psychosocial pathways, blocking internalization of negative stereotypes and reducing the level of distress experienced in response to gendered racism.     

Race and Ethnic Self-Identification Influences on Physical and Mental Health Statuses Among Blacks

We examine if commonly used distress measures, rates of psychiatric disorders, and chronic health conditions are affected by alternate measures of race-ethnicity for African Americans and Caribbean blacks. We examined two alternative self-identification measures to investigate if their influence might differ. A study on national household probability sample of non-institutionalized African Americans (n = 3,570) and blacks from Caribbean countries, who now live in the United States (n = 1,621), was conducted between February 2001 and June 2003, using a slightly modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. The method used to measure black race and ethnicity has influence on physical and mental health outcomes. The distributions of depressive symptoms are not affected, while the distributions of DSM IV disorders and chronic health conditions vary by race and ethnic self-identifications among the African American and Caribbean black populations. There are serious implications of using alternate measures of race-ethnicity on the distribution of physical and mental health morbidity among African Americans and Caribbean blacks. The conceptualization and assessment of race-ethnicity should be carefully considered when studying mental and physical health statuses and service needs in the American black population.     

美国华人新移民第二代及其身份认同

美国华人新移民的子女,即美国华人新移民第二代的身份认同复杂而多样,不同群体之间有所差异。家庭环境、学校教育、生活环境以及社会中的偏见均是导致其身份认同不同的因素。外界不可强求他们认同某种身份,美国社会应尊重和理解差异认同,而作为祖籍国的中国应提高综合国力以吸引他们培养情感倾向性的认同。