What Would You Do? Racial Differences in Mental Health Coping Strategies

Personal mental health coping mechanisms are both social and individual behaviors that relieve stress and other negative emotions. They are considered alternative to formal coping strategies due to the fact that they are not used under the guide of a mental health professional or in combination with therapy and medicine. Evidence shows that overall, black Americans use formal mental health therapy and medicine the least compared to other races and ethnicities, especially whites. What is lacking in the literature is an understanding of willingness to utilize traditional mental health services, as well as alternative coping strategies, both across different races/ethnicities and across different groups of blacks. Using a 2022 survey of Houston, Texas residents, I explore racial and ethnic differences in both formal and personal coping mechanisms, such as exercise, social networks, and religion through binary logistic regressions. The main finding of this study is that the largest differences in willingness to use coping strategies (both traditional and personal) varies more across racial groups rather than within the black community. Also, more than other racial groups, blacks are more likely to utilize religious services as a mental health strategy. This paper provides foundations for future policy and research concerning willingness to use mental health services and coping strategies both across racial groups and within the black community.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Hart, Darralyn Nicole

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anderson, Kathryn F.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Oyarvide Tuthill, Zelma
• Gallagher, Matthew W.

• Black
• Black Americans
• Mental health
• Equity
• Inequality
• Mental health coping mechanisms
• Racial disparities

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/14514

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/14514