African American women's beliefs about mental illness, stigma, and preferred coping behaviors

Abstract

We examined African American women's representations/beliefs about mental illness, preferred coping behaviors if faced with mental illness, whether perceived stigma was associated with treatment-seeking, and if so, whether it was related to beliefs and coping preference, and whether these variables differed by age group. Participants were 185 community-dwelling African American women 25 to 85 years of age. Results indicated the women believed that mental illness is caused by several factors, including family-related stress and social stress due to racism, is cyclical, and has serious consequences but can be controlled by treatment. Participants endorsed low perceptions of stigma. Major preferred coping strategies included praying and seeking medical and mental health care. Age differences were found in all variables except stigma.

Daily Hassles and African American Adolescent Females’ Psychological Functioning: Direct and Interactive Associations with Gender Role Orientation

“…Moreover, in support of this finding, additional studies with this population have suggested that older, women in comparison to younger women may have greater resources for coping with a range of stressors (e.g., Ward and Heidrich 2009;Zauszniewski et al 2005). Recent work with African American adolescent girls also suggests that age may be an important background factor for understanding stress experiences (Slater et al 2001).…”

African American Men and Women’s Attitude Toward Mental Illness, Perceptions of Stigma, and Preferred Coping Behaviors

“…Subscale scores were created by taking a mean of the relevant items, with higher scores (closer to 4) indicating greater likelihood of coping in that way if faced with a mental illness. In previous research with African Americans, internal consistency alpha coefficients ranged 0.62-0.78 (Ward & Heidrich, 2009). In the present study subscale reliabilities ranged 0.64-0.84.…”

“…The PCS was developed specifically for African Americans and in previous unpublished research has demonstrated good construct validity. Ward & Heidrich (2009) found among African Americans acceptability construct validity and internal consistency alpha coefficients ranging from 0.62 - 0.708. In the present study subscale reliabilities ranged from 0.64 - 0.84.…”

“…Response options were changed from a Likert-type scale to dichotomous responses of 1 (yes) or 0 (no) to simplify the measure and reduce participation burden (Ward & Heidrich, 2009). The BSI scores were summed to give a total score.…”

“…Preferred coping was measured using the 14-item Preferred Coping Scale (PCS) (Ward & Heidrich, 2009). The PCS was developed specifically for African Americans and in previous unpublished research has demonstrated good construct validity.…”