Hyppolite,
Joanne (2/11) The role of acculturation, racial identity, and ethnic identity
in understanding utilization rates, attitudes toward formal mental health
services, and preferences for help among Caribbean black college students
(Elizabeth Kudadjie, Ph.D.; Benjamin Saunders, Ph.D.; Joan Duncan, Ph.D.)
There is a need for research to examine
factors which contribute to the differences in mental health use and attitudes
towards therapy amongst minority individuals. While it has been established
that minority persons underutilize mental health services, what has yet to be
determined are the factors responsible for these differences. Among individuals
of African descent there exists increasing variability in utilization patterns
and attitudes towards mental health services. However research has repeatedly
chosen to examine Blacks as a homogenous group and ignore the intra-group
differences.
Thus, the present study sought to examine
the role of acculturation, racial identity and ethnic identity in understanding
the disparities in utilization rates, attitudes towards formal mental health
services and preferences for help among Caribbean Blacks. The study used a
sample of 104 Caribbean Black students of Jamaican, Trinidadian and Haitian
descent from a private university in New York City. Linear regression analyses
were used to identify factors amongst these three groups that influenced mental
health use, attitudes towards therapy and preferences for help.
Ethnic identity positively predicted
preferences for support such that positive feelings that Caribbeans hold
towards members of their ethnic group engenders a preference for informal
sources of support. Future research with Caribbean populations examining mental
health use and attitudes towards therapy should recognize and subsequently
examine identity along multiple dimensions, as they are differentially
associated with mental health outcomes. Also, that ethnic identity and racial
identity distinctly predict preferences for help suggests that these facets of
identity, at least for Caribbean Blacks, are mutually exclusive and should be
examined as separate constructs in future research.
