Cultural Mistrust and Mental Health Services for African Americans

Abstract

The underutilization of mental health services by African Americans may be due, in part, to their cultural mistrust. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to conduct a meta-analysis of the correlations between cultural mistrust in African Americans and their attitudes and behaviors related to mental health services use, comparing them to the correlations between cultural mistrust and measures relevant to other psychosocial domains, and (b) to test some methodological hypotheses about the Cultural Mistrust Inventory, the most popular measure of cultural mistrust. The meta-analysis suggests that the negative effects of Blacks’ cultural mistrust in interracial situations are not unique to counseling and psychotherapy but represent a broader perspective. The meta-analysis also suggests that development of the Cultural Mistrust Inventory with a male-only college sample did not compromise its external validity. The implications of these results for the provision of mental health services to African Americans are discussed.

Predisposition to seek mental health care among Black males transitioning from foster care

“…The CMI is a 48-item scale that measures the tendency of Blacks to mistrust Whites in four areas of life: educational and training settings, the political and legal system, work and business interactions, and interpersonal and social contexts. Research shows that the CMI continues to be a reliable and valid measure of cultural mistrust among Blacks (Whaley, 2001). In this study, the 13-item Interpersonal Relations subscale of the CMI was modified to assess participant's beliefs and opinions about the trustworthiness of White mental health professionals.…”

The Interplay of Sociodemographic Factors on Virologic Suppression Among a U.S. Outpatient HIV Clinic Population

“…Depression severity was dichotomized to those who expressed symptoms of major or other depressive disorders (MDD=ODD) within the past 2 weeks and those who did not. Age was categorized for regression analyses (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49), older than 50 years). The 4-day recall of medication adherence was dichotomized as less than 95% and more than 95% adherent.…”

Proximity to service providers and service utilization among welfare recipients: The interaction of place and race

“…The complexity of eligibility determinations (GAO, 2000), emphasis on job search over utilization of support services (Klerman et al, 2000;Nightingale, 2001;Wynn, 1995), and lack of adequate information about the range of social services available (GAO, 2002b;Nightingale, 2001; University of Wisconsin, 1999) all affect service utilization among low-income individuals. In addition, language, racial, and cultural barriers between clients and service providers are commonly cited factors that discourage service utilization among low-income individuals (Bhugra, 2002;Whaley, 2001;Williams et al, 2001).…”