The Mental Health of Black Americans

Involuntary commitments to public mental institutions: Issues involving the overrepresentation of Blacks and assessment of relevant functioning.

“…A controversial but historically frequently proposed explanation for their overrepresentation is that Blacks as a group are more prone genetically to mental disability than are Whites (Fischer, 1969;Pettigrew, 1964;Prudhomme & Musto, 1973;Thomas & Sillen, 1972;Warheit, Holzer, & Arey, 1975;Wilkinson & Spurlock, 1986). In contrast, other commentators also propose that Blacks are more vulnerable to mental disability but because of their predominately low socioeconomic position and the deprivation and stresses associated with poverty and inner-city life rather than because of genetics (e.g., Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974;Dressier & Badger, 1985;Dunham, 1980;Lawson, 1986;Moynihan, 1965;Thomas & Sillen, 1972;D.…”

“…Perhaps of most concern from a procedural and public policy perspective are proposals that attempt to account for the overrepresentation of Blacks by some form of purposeful or nonpurposeful institutional racism or racial bias (e.g., Lawson, Yesavage, & Werner, 1984;Prudhomme & Musto, 1973;Sabshin et al, 1970;Wilkinson & Spurlock, 1986). Many authors have argued that vague commitment laws permit malicious legal and police discrimination to influence who is committed (e.g., Arnold, 1971;K.…”

“…Similarly, several writers have pointed to findings that the overt manifestations of many cognitive and affective states may differ on the basis of ethnic, racial, and cultural factors; presumably similar internal or external events may be expressed differently by Blacks than by Whites, and the same set of behaviors is often differentially perceived and subject to faulty attributions by those who do not share common characteristics. These writers have maintained that the predominant normative interpretations of typically White, middle-class mental health professionals are generally to the detriment of lower-class Black people, producing errors in diagnostic classifications and assessment of functioning that could lead to their inappropriate voluntary or involuntary admission (see Adebimpe, 1981;Hollingshead & Redlich, 1958;Jones & Gray, 1986;Lawson, 1986;Westermeyer, 1987;Wilkinson & Spurlock, 1986;D. H. Williams, 1986).…”

Do Human Capital Investment and Technological Innovation Have a Permanent Effect on Population Health? An Asymmetric Analysis of BRICS Economies

“…In addition to this, education in various different fields of study, on one side, improves the physical working and individual health of the people of all ages and at the same time also helps to decrease the rate of sickness, incapacity, and death that are related to aging and other related factors ( 5 – 9 ). Moreover, studies pertaining to researchers such as Wilkinson and Spurlock ( 10 ), and Doornbos and Kromhout ( 11 ) actively argue that it is education that exerts a positive impact on health and healthcare related disciplines, and it is essentially not health that improves the level of education in people.…”

Hospitalized African American Mental Health Consumers: Some Antecedents to Service Satisfaction and Intent to Comply With Aftercare.

“…The service satisfaction literature regarding the African American, chronic mentally ill population is not extensive (Kramer, Rosen, & Willis, 1998; Wilkinson & Spurlock, 1986; Williams & Gillispie, 2002). It is notable that there is an absence of empirical data pertaining to the effectiveness or satisfaction of treatment with African American mentally ill patients.…”