African American Mental Health Disparities

African American Mental Health Disparities
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African American Mental Health Disparities
The U.S. is the dominant country in Northern America and has presented itself as a more diverse society than ever before. According to the US Census Bureau (2020), the American population is projected to be even more diverse in the coming years compared to the past, with the number of ethnic minorities experiencing a steady rise. The racial and ethnic diversities in the US come along with some problems, the major one being the health and health care disparities. African Americans make up approximately 13 percent of the US population (Psychiatry.org, 2017). It also tops as the most diverse racial group and often falls victim to social-economic challenges associated with widespread health and health care disparities. It is thus logical to explore the health disparities faced by the group. In particular, the African American population has been stricken by mental health disparities predominant among those living below the poverty line.
Previous research has explored the relationships between poverty and mental health, finding a positive correlation between the two variables that can further escalate to health and health care and disparities. According to Knifton and Inglis (2020), the stigma, social stress, and trauma associated with poverty have the potential to escalate to mental health disorders regardless of one’s stage in life. The vice versa is also true, in that, mental health disorders can inflict suffering in the form of poverty through job losses and the balkanization of human connections (Knifton & Inglis, 2020). Poverty rates among African Americans have always been on worrying levels, and the positive correlation between poverty and mental health issues signifies that the group is disproportionately susceptible to mental health problems.
According to data from the Census Bureau of the United States, there has been a steady decline in the poverty rates in the United States, with the overall poverty rates standing at 10.5 percent: 15.7 percent for the Hispanics and 18.8 percent for the African Americans (Creamer, 2020). Despite the overall decline in the poverty rates for all populations, the African Americans’ poverty rates remain relatively high according to the data, making the group more susceptible to social and health issues associated with poverty, including mental health issues. There are numerous issues linked with the high poverty rates among African Americans, and structural racism bears much of the blame for creating a wide wealth gap between the group and whites in the US (Hanks et al., 2020). The unequal wealth distribution among people of different races, in particular, between African Americans and whites in collaboration with other forms of wealth inequalities that may include employment discrimination, leaves the black population highly susceptible to poverty, further translating to mental health disparities.
Health care disparities is a term used to connote the unequal treatment in healthcare quality administered to a person based on predetermined factors such as race, whereas health disparity...