Students revealed that peers were also an important source of support, which is consistent with prior findings.26,32 One unique aspect to our study was that many students were involved in peer-to-peer programs. Building on these efforts, the non-profit identified the need for student feedback about seeking mental health services on campuses with Wellness Centers, and the barriers to seeking these services. SBHCs can help teachers and school staff gain awareness of mental health issues and services available to students. School-based prevention programs have the potential to offer a non-stigmatized approach to mental health care as well as the ability to reach many students simultaneously. Disparities in mental health care and access to care disproportionately affect youth from minoritized and low-income communities.
Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Problems
- Disparities remain in mental health status and care for racial and ethnic minority youth, despite national attention to disparity reduction.
- According to the American Psychiatric Association, more than 50 percent of all Americans will be part of a minority group (one other than non-Hispanic White) by 2044.
- These statistics aren’t just numbers – they represent real people, real struggles, and real lives affected by mental health disparities.
- While quality mental health treatments have lasting and significant effects on adolescents (Weisz et al., 2017), access to and use of mental health treatments is not equitable among all adolescents.
Kodjo & Auinger52 analyzed the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (2003) and found that African American but not Latino youth were significantly less likely than non-Latino white youth to have received psychological counseling. A number of studies have documented high rates of serious emotional disturbance amongst youth in the juvenile justice system29 and in the child welfare system (rates of 50 percent). One large study done in the US was instrumental in providing evidence for the importance of available funding for preschools in urban areas in this country. In older children, prevention programs have focused directly on those children identified as having behavior problems, and have also included interventions with parents. Lastly, the Good Behavior Game class program23 was a two year whole school social skills curriculum that showed efficacy in improved attention and concentration, and less oppositional and conduct behavior problems, predominantly in children with moderate levels of initial inattention.17 Most of these preventive measures in very young children have focused on parenting interventions, and have targeted children that have been identified as either being at risk or already having behavior problems.
Mental Health in Black/African Americans
Is a mental health professional turned content writer and strategist based in the Detroit metro area. Talking to someone in your community you trust, using teletherapy, and vetting potential providers can help you find the culturally competent care you deserve. So if you’re a member of a diverse group and you’ve had trouble finding mental healthcare, know that you’re not alone. Historically, minority groups have been underserved by the medical and mental health communities.
Data Collection
In two studies, researchers found ethnic match between patient and practitioner to be a facilitator (50, 51); minority youth were more likely to use mental health services when their mental health practitioners were of the same racial/ethnic group. Our findings suggest that the availability of peer staff within youth mental health programs may contribute to https://www.safeproject.us/resource/latinx/ greater outpatient service utilization among minority youth and that racial/ethnic concordance may further support service uptake among Latinx youth. School-based health centers (SBHCs) can help address unmet mental health needs for all children, but especially low-income minority youth, as most students in schools with SBHCs are minorities.10 SBHCs are comprehensive health clinics located on school sites and most provide health and mental health services. While multi-systemic and school-based therapies for adolescents have been shown to be both effective and implementable (Fisher et al., 2018; Mason-Jones et al., 2012) much of our mental health services rely on traditional, office-based outpatient treatment. It is doubtful that cultural formation interview and the added cultural sensitivity components within DSM-5 by themselves will have much influence on clinical diagnoses and the receipt of mental health services in ethnic/racial minority youth.
In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, age and a diagnosis of a mental health disorder were chosen because of their significance to identifying as either in the MHT group or OT group, as noted in Table 1. All other mental health related variables showed no significant differences between the MHT and OT groups. Table 3 examines mental health symptoms such as depressive symptoms in the last two-weeks, as well as substance use and suicidality as related to but distinct factors in adolescent mental health. In addition to diagnosable mental health disorders, other variables relevant to adolescent mental health were collected in the MINI and analyzed. However, 24% of participants in the OT group met diagnostic criteria for mental health disorders, primarily but not exclusively in the anxiety disorders classification of the DSM-IV.
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