Race,social relationships,and mental health

Researchers often assume that the extent, quality, and effectiveness of personal relationships explain why African Americans have relatively good mental health despite experiencing high levels of stress. This study tests this assumption using data from the 1990–1992 National Comorbidity Survey. Few racial differences emerge in patterns of social relationships, and the nature and quality of social relationships do not explain African Americans’ resiliency on mental health. Several aspects of social relationships benefit African Americans’ mental health more than Whites’, but these moderating effects are insubstantial. Hence, the data do not support the assumption. If social relationships help explain the lack of racial differences in mental health, their nature and effects must be more adequately conceptualized.     

Evangelical group membership,depression, and well-being among older Mexican Americans: a comparison with older non-Hispanic Whites

This study assesses denominational differences in well-being among older Mexican Americans and examines differences between this group and older non-Hispanic Whites. Data came from two representative surveys of the US older adult population, focusing on each of these ethnic groups (N?=?996 and N?=?612, respectively). Evangelical Mexican Americans reported fewer symptoms of depression and greater life satisfaction than their Catholic counterparts, but there were no such differences among non-Hispanic Whites. Potential explanatory mechanisms examined included differences in frequency of attendance at religious services, use of positive and negative religious coping, and social support or conflict in the congregation. Among these, only the relationship of attendance and denomination varied by ethnicity, but this factor did not appear to explain differences in well-being. We propose that aspects of conflict between Catholic and Mexican-American identities contribute to making Evangelical affiliation more strongly related to well-being in this group.     

The Relationships Between Mexican American Acculturation,Cultural Values,Gender, and Help‐Seeking Intentions

This study examined the relationships between Mexican acculturation, cultural values, gender, and help‐seeking intentions among Mexican American community college students. Findings suggest that as Mexican Americans lose their culture of origin and increase their generational status, their attitudes toward help seeking become less favorable. This contradicts cultural barrier theory as an explanation for underuse of mental health services by Mexican Americans. Furthermore, adherence to traditional Mexican culture and cultural values may actually encourage help seeking.     

Church-based social relationships, belonging, and health among older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to explain how church-based emotional support influences the health of older Mexican Americans. This issue is evaluated with a theoretical model that contains the following core linkages: (1) older Mexican Americans who go to church more often will be more likely to receive emotional support from fellow church members; (2) older Mexican Americans who receive more support from their fellow church members will be more likely to feel they belong in their congregation; (3) older Mexican Americans who feel they belong in their congregation are likely to have a stronger sense of personal control; and (4) older Mexican Americans who have a stronger sense of personal control are likely to enjoy better health. Data from a recent nationwide survey of older Mexican Americans provide support for each of these relationships.     

Culture and social support

Social support is one of the most effective means by which people can cope with stressful events. Yet little research has examined whether there are cultural differences in how people utilize their social support networks. A review of studies on culture and social support presents evidence that Asians and Asian Americans are more reluctant to explicitly ask for support from close others than are European Americans because they are more concerned about the potentially negative relational consequences of such behaviors. Asians and Asian Americans are more likely to use and benefit from forms of support that do not involve explicit disclosure of personal stressful events and feelings of distress. Discussion centers on the potential implications of these findings for intercultural interactions and for the use of mental health services by Asians and Asian Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Colonial Mentality and Mental Health Help‐Seeking of Filipino Americans

Filipino Americans present with very low rates of mental health help‐seeking. Because of the colonial history between the Philippines and the United States, the authors examined how colonial mentality and internalized oppression, along with ethnic identity, acculturation, and social support, were related to mental health help‐seeking attitudes of Filipino Americans (N = 410). Furthermore, the authors investigated how colonial mentality affects the ethnic identity of Filipino Americans. Major findings included that colonial mentality was negatively related to ethnic identity development and social support, and higher levels of colonial mentality significantly predicted negative mental health help‐seeking attitudes above and beyond ethnic identity, acculturation, social support, and demographic variables. Implications for the counseling profession are considered.     

Ethnic and Gender Differences in Distress Among Anglo American, African American, Japanese American, and Mexican American Spousal Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Distress, coping, and social resources were compared in a sample of 202 Japanese-, Anglo-, African-, and Mexican American spousal caregivers of persons with dementia using a Stress-Coping model. Both ethnicity and gender showed differential effects on the outcome and on the moderating variables. Female caregivers in all ethnic groups reported significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. All 4 ethnic groups reported high rates of psychological distress, with Mexican Americans reporting significantly higher rates of depression than Anglo or African Americans. Ethnicity was related to (1) the kind of caregiving appraisals (spiritual, pessimistic, and lack of support), (2) coping styles (escape-avoidance and seeking social support), and (3) social support. African Americans were more likely to be spiritual appraisers, to have more positive appraisals, and to have more social support available to them. Gender differences were evident on 4 out of the 6 caregiver appraisals, but none of the coping styles. Although males tended to have more perfectionistic appraisals, they were also more likely to view caregiving with a less negative and more self-efficacious outlook.     

Barriers between mental health services and Mexican Americans: An examination of a paradox

The paradox of underutilization of mental health services by Mexican Americans is critically examined. It is argued that Mexican Americans live under high levels of psychological and environmental stress that would ordinarily lead to mental health problems and an increased utilization of mental health services. A number of barriers to the use of mental health services by Mexican Americans are examined. Included among these barriers are such factors as the relationship between social class and treatment offered, stereotypes concerning Mexican American folk psychiatry, limitations imposed by language differences, and the effects of stereotypes between Anglo Americans and Mexican Americans. Paradoxical findings in some studies which show a positive perception of mental health services by Mexican Americans are seen to further underscore the need for more research on the Mexican American's position. Stereotypes and generalizations about Spanish-speaking and bilingual Mexican American's approaches to psychotherapy are challenged in the light of recent empirical findings. Recommendations for future research directions and for improving the delivery of mental health services are presented.     

Responses to nervous breakdowns in America over a 40-year period. Mental health policy implications

The 1957 and 1976 Americans View Their Mental Health surveys from the Institute of Social Research were partially replicated in the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS) to examine the policy implications of people's responses to feeling an impending nervous breakdown. Questions about problems in modern living were added to the GSS to provide a profile of the public's view of mental health problems. Results were compared for 1957, 1976, and 1996. In 1957, 19% of respondents had experienced an impending nervous breakdown; in 1996, 26% had had this experience. Between 1957 and 1996, participants increased their use of informal social supports, decreased their use of physicians, and increased their use of nonmedical mental health professionals. These findings support policies that strengthen informal support seeking and access to effective psychosocial treatments rather than current mental health reimbursement practices, which emphasize the role of primary care physicians.     

Community‐Based Participatory Research With Black Churches

Black Americans are more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to rely on spiritual and religious resources for mental health support. As such, counselors must seek unique ways to reach and understand Black communities. This article provides an overview of Black Americans' help‐seeking behaviors, the significance and culture of the Black Church, and a framework for counselors and counseling researchers to form effective partnerships to conduct community‐based participatory research initiatives that will produce empirical outcomes and promote culturally responsive mental health and wellness programming in Black communities.     

Sex differences in professional help seeking among adult black Americans

This paper provides baseline data on sex differences in the use of professional help for serious personal problems in a nationally representative sample of adult black Americans. Bivariate analyses revealed that women had higher levels of psychological distress and were significantly more likely to seek professional help than were men. They were also more likely to utilize physicians and social service agencies. The relationship of gender to these help resources remained significant even when the effects of problem severity and differential problem definition were taken into account. Controlling for income, however, eliminated the sex difference for social services use but not for physician use.     

Ethnicity,culture, and social resources

Assessed social integration (existence or quantity of relationships) and social (specifically, emotional) support in Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs). Ethnic differences were seen as arising from (a) demographic differences between ethnic groups that account for ethnic differences; (b) demographic attributes that have different associations with social resources for each ethnic group; (c) ethnic differences independent of these explanations. Study participants were 538 U.S.-born MA, 706 Mexico-born MA, and 1,149 NHW randomly selected community residents. Immigrants were more often married, and MAs and immigrants reported fewer friends and less emotional support, regardless of demographic attributes. Ethnic differences in demographic attributes accounted for MAs' and immigrants' smaller kin networks. Ethnic differences in demographic correlates of working accounted for MAs' lower employment rates.     

Social Relationships in the Church During Late Life: Assessing Differences Between African Americans,Whites, and Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to see if there are differences in the social relationships that older African Americans, older whites, and older Mexican Americans form with the people where they worship. Data from two large surveys are pooled to see if race differences emerge in eleven different measures of church-based social relationships. These measures assess social relationships with rank-and-file church members as well as social relationships with members of the clergy. The findings reveal that older African Americans tend to have more well-developed social relationships in the church than either older whites or older Mexican Americans. This is true with respect to relationships with fellow church members as well as relationships with the clergy. In contrast, relatively few differences emerged between older Americans of European descent and older Mexican Americans. However, when differences emerged in the data, older whites tend to score higher on the support measures than older Mexican Americans.     

Cultural differences in the impact of social support on psychological and biological stress responses

Social support is believed to be a universally valuable resource for combating stress, yet Asians and Asian Americans report that social support is not helpful to them, resist seeking it, and are underrepresented among recipients of supportive services. We distinguish between explicit social support (seeking and using advice and emotional solace) and implicit social support (focusing on valued social groups) and show that Asians and Asian Americans are psychologically and biologically benefited more by implicit social support than by explicit social support; the reverse is true for European Americans. Our discussion focuses on cultural differences in the construal of relationships and their implications for social support and delivery of support services.     

Toward a Culturally Responsive Model of Mental Health Literacy: Facilitating Help‐Seeking Among East Asian Immigrants to North America

Studies have consistently found that East Asian immigrants in North America are less likely to use mental health services even when they experience levels of distress comparable to Euro‐Americans. Although cultural factors that may prevent East Asian immigrants from seeking mental health care have been identified, few studies have explored ways to foster appropriate help‐seeking and use of mental health services. Recent work on mental health literacy provides a potential framework for strategies to increase appropriate help‐seeking and use of services. This paper reviews the literature on help‐seeking for mental health problems among East Asian immigrants living in Western countries to critically assess the relevance of the mental health literacy approach as a framework for interventions to improve appropriate use of services. Modifications needed to develop a culturally responsive framework for mental health literacy are identified.     

Religion, Ethnicity, and Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy

Many presume that White culture supports psychotherapy utilization. However, cultural analyses suggest that many aspects of White culture are antithetical to the values and practices underlying psychotherapy, which appear more congruent with Ashkenazic Jewish attitudes and values. The current research empirically tested this possibility by comparing older Jewish White people, non-Jewish Whites, and Black participants on attitudes relevant to psychotherapy. Results indicated that Jews had greater confidence in a therapist's ability to help, were more tolerant of stigma, and more open to sharing their feelings and concerns than participants in the other groups. Furthermore, initial differences between Whites and African Americans were lessened when Jewish identity was included in the analysis. Results suggest that Jewish culture is relatively accepting of psychotherapy, and that previous reports of different rates of mental health seeking attitudes and utilization by Whites and Blacks may be due, in part, to the inclusion of Jewish individuals in these samples.     

Pursuit of comfort and pursuit of harmony: culture, relationships, and social support seeking

This research examined whether people from collectivistic cultures are less likely to seek social support than are people from individualistic cultures because they are more cautious about potentially disturbing their social network. Study 1 found that Asian Americans from a more collectivistic culture sought social support less and found support seeking to be less effective than European Americans from a more individualistic culture. Study 2 found that European Americans' willingness to seek support was unaffected by relationship priming, whereas Asian Americans were willing to seek support less when the relationship primed was closer to the self. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 2 and found that the tendency to seek support and expect social support to be helpful as related to concerns about relationships. These findings underscore the importance of culturally divergent relationship patterns in understanding social support transactions.     

Adolescents who need help the most are the least likely to seek it: the relationship between low emotional competence and low intention to seek help

It has been found that university students who were the least skilled at managing their emotions also had the lowest intention of seeking help from a variety of nonprofessional sources (e.g. family and friends). The present study sought to extend these findings by focusing on adolescents, examining a larger number of emotional competencies, and exploring the possibility that social support explains the relationship between emotional competence and help-seeking. A total of 137 adolescents (aged 16-18) completed an anonymous survey that assessed social support, emotional competencies, and intention to seek help from a variety of professional and nonprofessional sources. As expected, adolescents who were low in emotional awareness, and who were poor at identifying, describing, and managing their emotions, were the least likely to seek help from nonprofessional sources and had the highest intention of refusing help from everyone. However, low emotional competence was not related to intention to seek help from professional sources (e.g. mental health professionals). The significant results involving nonprofessional sources were only partially explained by social support, suggesting that even adolescents who had high quality support were less likely to make use of that support if they were low in emotional competence.     

Social relationships and vulnerability to becoming homeless among poor families.

This study compares social relationships of 677 mothers in families requesting shelter with those of 495 mothers in housed families, randomly selected from the public assistance caseload in New York City. As hypothesized, women seeking shelter had experienced higher levels of a variety of childhood and adult events indicative of disruptions in social relationships. Contrary to our hypothesis, they were more likely than were housed mothers to have had recent contact with parents, other relatives, and friends, although they felt less able to draw on these resources for help with their current housing needs. More than three fourths of families seeking shelter had already stayed with members of their social network in the past year. The data suggest that they had used up potential sources of support before turning to public shelter.     

Religious Non-involvement Among African Americans, Black Caribbeans and Non-hispanic Whites: Findings from the National Survey of American Life

This study examines the association between race/ethnicity, socio-demographic characteristics, and religious non-involvement among a national sample of African Americans, Black Caribbeans and Non-Hispanic Whites. The relationship between religious non-involvement and selected measures of religious participation, spirituality, religious coping is also examined. The study utilizes data from a national multi-stage probability sample, the National Survey of American Life (n = 6,082). Very few individuals, <1 out of 20 respondents, both never attended religious services and have no current denomination. Overall, <8 % have never attended religious services since the age of 18. Both African Americans and Black Caribbeans were significantly less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report never attending religious services and not having a current denomination. The greater reliance upon religious institutions for support and guidance among African Americans and Black Caribbean Americans relative to Non-Hispanic Whites may help explain the importance of race in predicting religious non-involvement. Women, married persons, Southerners, and the more highly educated are significantly more likely to be involved in religion. Finally, this study indicates that the religiously non-involved are less likely than others to participate in religious activities, to identify as spiritual, and to rely upon religion to cope with trying circumstances. Nonetheless, even respondents who never attend religious services and do not have a denomination still report some level of religious participation along with relatively high levels of religious coping. We posit that religious non-involvement is less indicative of apostasy, but rather likely reflects a critique of organized religion.