Prevalence of Mental Health Disorder Symptoms and Rates of Help-seeking Among University-Enrolled, Black Men

Background. Black men in college represent a subgroup of emerging adults who are at increased risk of developing mental health disorders (MHDs), such as anxiety and depression. Such risk has been attributed to disproportionate experiences with everyday racial discrimination and high levels of psychological distress. Despite being at higher risk, university-enrolled, Black men are not utilizing mental health or health resources at optimal rates. The current evidence base describing prevalence of MHDs and health services utilization among Black men in college is limited. The present study addresses this by examining mental health prevalence among university-enrolled, Black men and their rates of health services utilization. Methods. We analyzed data (N ~ 2500) from a student survey, Spit for Science, a longitudinal, ongoing, research study at a mid-Atlantic, public university. Participants are given surveys in their freshman year and follow-up surveys every spring thereafter. Measures included: mental health disorders (depression and anxiety, as measured by the Symptom Checklist 90) and campus health service utilization (counseling center, health services, wellness center, and recreational sports). We conducted descriptive analyses to determine MHD symptom prevalence and utilization rates; Mann Whitney U tests to compare prevalence rates to White men and Black women; and, Chi-squared tests to compare rates of utilization among groups. Results. During their Freshman year, greater than 60% of students from each ethnic group reported at least one anxiety symptom and greater than 80% reported at least one depressive symptom. By senior year, reporting rates decreased significantly for Black men (49.6%) but remained high for White men (69.1%) and Black women (63%); p \u3c0.000. For depression, results were similar; however, only significant differences between Black men (72.7%) and Black women (87.1%); p\u3c0.000. Black men (20.4%), though reporting high levels of symptoms, still utilized counseling services at lower rates compared to White men (37.76%); p = 0.024. Conclusion. Findings suggest that Black men underutilize available campus health resources despite reporting one or more symptoms associated with anxiety and depression. Further research and prevention efforts are needed to improve help-seeking among this vulnerable population.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1077/thumbnail.jp

VCU Gives Back

We propose the establishment of an organization wide series of community service events beginning at homecoming and culminating in April during National Volunteer Week with a large scale event, in an effort to bring a sense of unity among the students, faculty and staff within the organization while helping the communities surrounded by VCU

Racism and discrimination, coping, life satisfaction, and self-esteem among African-Americans

This study examined the coping behaviors employed by African Americans in their encounters with racism and discrimination. Initially, a total of 281 participants were administered the Index of Race-Related Stress (Utsey & Ponterotto, 1996) the Coping Strategy Indicator (Amirkhan, 1990), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The final sample consisted of 214 participants. Several research questions were posed for this study: (a) Which coping strategies (i.e., problem solving, seeking social support, or avoidance) are better predictors of race-related stress for which types of racism (i.e., cultural racism, institutional racism, or individual racism)? (b) In confronting racism, would some coping strategies be better predictors than others of self-esteem and life satisfaction? (c) Are different types of coping strategies employed in confronting different types of racism? (d) Are there significant gender differences in the types of coping strategies employed during encounters with racism? (e) Are there significant differences across socioeconomic status for the types of coping strategies employed during encounters with racism? The study\u27s findings indicated that problem solving coping was the best predictor of institutional racism and that seeking social support coping was the best predictor of individual racism. Avoidance and seeking social support coping were predictors of both self-esteem and life satisfaction. In addition, avoidance coping was used significantly more than other coping strategies during encounters with individual racism. Moreover, women relied on seeking social support coping significantly more than men. No differences were found between socioeconomic status and coping strategies

Does Forgiveness Require Interpersonal Interactions? Individual Differences in Conceptualization of Forgiveness

The present studies examined whether victims believed that forgiveness requires interpersonal interaction between the victim and offender. Having an interpersonal conceptualization of forgiveness was positively related to a collectivistic worldview. Also, an interpersonal conceptualization of forgiveness was positively related to forgiveness measures that stressed interpersonal interactions with the offender. However, an interpersonal conceptualization of forgiveness was positively related to a general measure of forgiveness only for those participants who were in a continuing relationship with the offender. The current research is an important step in understanding the contexts in which one\u27s conceptualization of forgiveness may influence its practice. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved