Mental Health Issues African American Youth Face
Mental Health efforts outlined below will serve to mitigate the mental health issues seen in the black community. The research outlines the needs of adolescents, interventions, including supporting strong family structure, access to resources, and culturally competent mental health interventions. It outlines the importance of fathers pre and post incarceration and its impact on recidivism and public safety. In addition, children with involved fathers are less likely to act out in school or engage in risky activities.
Adolescence is a crucial time for a young person from 10 to 19 years of age, which is consistent with the World Health Organization’s definition of adolescence. During this period, it is essential for Youth to develop core life skills that enable them to manage various aspects of their lives, including school, work, social relationships, and outside interests. From a brain development perspective, these vital skills include planning, focus, self-control, awareness, and flexibility, also referred to as “executive function” and “self-regulation” skills. However, a pile-up of adversity, such as neglect, hunger, homelessness, multiple foster care placements, peer suicide, addiction, or violence, can make it difficult for Youth to concentrate in school, keep track of the details in their lives, find constructive solutions to problems, and make plans. As such, interventions that add the threat of punishment or undermine autonomy are ineffective during adolescence. Therefore, we must find ways to reduce chaos and adversity in the lives of young people while supporting their independence to maximize their opportunities to learn critical life skills (Building the Core Skill Youth Need For Life, https://harvardcenter.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HCDC_BuildingAdolescentCoreLifeSkills.pdf).
African American Youth are particularly vulnerable to racial discrimination. Therefore, clinicians must intentionally and deliberately communicate content specific to the stressor to help Youth who face racial stress (Anderson et al., 2018, p. 15). Furthermore, clinicians must consider culturally related stressors when working with clients to cultivate cultural competence intentionally (Anderson et al., 2018, p. 15). Lastly, policy initiatives must address historical and current racial discrimination in the United States to ensure that all Youth have equal opportunities to succeed (Anderson et al., 2018, p. 15).
Policy Implications
Policies and Programs should improve the educational, employment, and residential opportunities available to African Americans in direct response to generations of oppression for a robust effect, and this will improve mental health outcomes. Federal funding should continue to support interventions that can reduce the impact of racial discrimination in various areas, education, employment, and housing, and recreation for health and well-being (Anderson et al., 2018, p. 15).
Jackson 2020 suggests that mental health in the African American community takes a backseat to environmental stressors, equity, and civil rights, and resources for mental health are hard to obtain due to poverty on top of the stigmatization associated with mental illness. In addition to this, the stigma that is associated with mental illness deters those in the African American community from seeking it out (Jackson, 2020, p. 3).
The African American community faces many deterrents when finding access to resources and information regarding mental health directed to the community. The community needs Research based on needs (Jackson, 2020, p. 5).
Investing in the creation of resources
Mental health situations can be life-changing and, beyond their immediate physical health and state of mind, can lead to longer-term youth life changes, such as involuntary psychiatric hold or arrest due to acting out from their illness, or worse. Libraries and other information-based organizations are crucial, now more than ever, as institutions for supporting the information needs and information-seeking behavior of African Americans and mental health. Additional Research into how African Americans experiencing mental health conditions seek information would benefit the creation of new community resources, organizations, information sources, and online ((Jackson, 2020, p. 6).
Policies should Focus on Positive Youth Development.
When there are public policies that destroy family structure, the development of the Youth is altered, and the intergenerational process continues to be disorganized and create dysfunctional Youth, mental illness, and substance dependence. One must know the importance of family relationships in adolescent development to understand appropriate programs that will make a difference. Orejudo et al., 2022 posit that positive family relationships are associated with adolescents’ life satisfaction (p.1.) and improve adolescent development through family life. Family is the most critical factor in psychological adjustment Orejudo et al., 2022 (cited in Garcia et al., 2012, p.3). Strong relationships with parents improve relationships with others and individual competency (Orejudo et al., 2022, p.13).
Adolescents need positive interactions in the environment (family, school, peers, neighborhood, and other institutions), which is essential for positive development. Family relationships promote competencies and adjustment in the environment and relationships for positive growth.
According to the Pew Research Center, Parenting in America, mothers, and fathers are equally likely to say that parenting is central to who they are: 57% of fathers say being a dad is critical to their overall identity, and 58% of mothers say the same about being a mom. Millennial parents (60%) are more likely than parents who are Baby Boomers (51%) to say that being a parent is critical to their identity. Some 58% of Gen X parents say the same. Being a mother or father is an equally important part of being a parent, regardless of the age of their children. Whether their youngest child is a preschooler or a Youth, parents are about equally likely to say being a parent is extremely important to their overall identity (60% among those whose youngest child is younger than 6, and 54% among those whose youngest is between ages 13 and 17) http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/2-satisfaction-time-and-support/#parenting-matters-to-overall-identity, (retrieved 12/6/2018).
The role of fathers impacts another element of public safety, and that is reentry. Children with involved fathers are less likely to act out in school or engage in risky behaviors in adolescence. Involved fathers create public safety. Visher et al.’s 2013 study finds that recently released fathers’ involvement with their children is essential to successful reentry and is as vital to successful transitioning into the community as employment, abstinence from substance use, and positive mental health outcomes (Visher et al., 2013, p.2). Various studies cited in Visher et al., 2013 cited in (Nurse, 2002 Swisher & Waller, 2008; Tuerk & Loper, 2006) suggest before release, contact with children and family through phone calls, visits, and written letters has better reentry outcomes, even though visits may be difficult due to long distances. Other challenges reported by incarcerated fathers were that there was no one to bring their children to see them, and mothers did not want the child to maintain a relationship with their fathers due to the incarceration (p. 4). Nonetheless, fathers who have relationships with their children support recidivism, and it is just as important as employment and substance use avoidance. The studies cited in Visher et al., 2013 also state fathers want to be involved in their children’s lives after release (p.5). Fathers’ involvement with their children before incarceration and during incarceration ensures high levels of involvement post-release, decreasing recidivism rates upon post-release (Visher et al., 2013, p.8).
Policy Implications
Visher et al., 2013, suggest several policy recommendations:
1. States should support policies and programs encouraging more significant involvement with fathers and their children during and post-incarceration. Policies should address the barriers that do not support visitation, such as distance, cost, lack of transportation, and security restrictions, and policies should be developed to alleviate these restrictions (Visher et al., 2013, p. 10).
2.Visitation areas should be made in child-friendly environments, with toys and games that support play and bonding time. Absent these conditions, the benefits may not be realized (Visher et al., 2013, p. 10).
3. Video conferencing may support father/child visitation when distance or security concerns to support ongoing parent-child interactions (Visher et al., 2013, p. 10).
4. Policies that support closer proximity to the family, making communication more affordable and accessible, and instituting parenting programs for incarcerated fathers will benefit the father, child, public safety, and recidivism and improve reentry outcomes (Visher et al., 2013, p.11).
References
Anderson, R. E., Jones, S. C., Navarro, C. C., McKenny, M. C., Mehta, T. J., & Stevenson, H. C. (2018). Addressing the mental health needs of youth and families: A case study from the EMBRace intervention. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(5), 898.
Building the Core Skills Youth Need For Life, https://harvardcenter.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HCDC_BuildingAdolescentCoreLifeSkills.pdf
Jackson, S. (2020). African-American Mental Health Community: Information Needs, Barriers, and Gaps. School of Information Student Research Journal, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.31979/2575-2499.100103 Retrieved from https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/ischoolsrj/vol10/iss1/3. (Retrieved, May 1, 2024).
Orejudo, S., Balaguer, Á., Osorio, A., de la Rosa, P. A., & Lopez‐del Burgo, C. (2022). Activities and relationships with parents as key ecological assets that encourage personal positive youth development. Journal of Community Psychology, 50(2), 896-915.
Parenting in America, The American family today (2015 survey report) | Pew Research Center
Visher, C. A., Bakken, N. W., & Gunter, W. D. (2013). Fatherhood, Community Reintegration, and Successful Outcomes. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 52(7), 451–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2013.829899