14 - Race and Mental Health: Patterns and Challenges

Summary

The current racial categories reflect the convergence of geographic origins, exposure to prejudice and discrimination, and socioeconomic disadvantage. This chapter provides an overview of the mental health status for each minority population and evaluates the available scientific evidence of racial variations in mental health. In considering directions for future research, the chapter emphasizes the need to identify the ways in which the mental health problems of each group emerge from the larger social context in which the group is embedded. Race is strongly associated with socioeconomic status (SES), with American Indians, Hispanics, Blacks, and certain subgroups of the Asian and Pacific Islander population having lower levels of multiple indicators of SES than the White population. Challenges deriving from the adaptation to mainstream American culture and socioeconomic disadvantage can lead minority group members to experience high levels of stressful experiences that could adversely affect health.