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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is 
published every Thursday during the 
spring and summer terms by students 
at the University of Michigan. One copy 
is available free of charge to all readers. 
Additional copies may be picked up at the 
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall 
term, starting in September, via U.S. mail 
are $110. Winter term (January through 
April) is $115, yearlong (September 
through April) is $195. University affiliates 
are subject to a reduced subscription rate. 
On-campus subscriptions for fall term 
are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 
The Michigan Daily is a member of The 
Associated Press and The Associated 
Collegiate Press. 

2

Thursday, July 13, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

University researchers link mental 
illness to discrimination in Black men

Police brutality, 
mass incarceration 
among sources of 

discrimination

By ALEXA ST. JOHN
 Managing News Editor

Racial discrimination during 

one’s youth can predict long-
term 
negative 
mental 
health 

consequences 
in 
Black 
men, 

one 
University 
of 
Michigan 

researcher found. However, these 
consequences later in life differ 
between males and females.

Shervin 
Assari, 
a 
research 

investigator with the School of 
Public Health, studied data from 
679 Black youth from 1994 to 
2012, all of whom lived in Flint, 
referred to as an “economically 
disadvantaged 
urban 
area.” 

Assari found that perceived racial 
discrimination throughout that 
time later influenced psychological 
symptoms such as anxiety and 
depression, but mostly for men.

“Racial 
discrimination 
may 

contribute 
to 
mental 
health 

problems through several 
potential 
mechanisms 

including: 
1) 
heightened 

negative 
psychological 

stress response, 2) increased 
physiological stress response, 
3) hypervigilance, and 4) 
increased participation in 
unhealthy behaviors,” Assari 
wrote in his new paper.

This 
information 
has 

been 
confirmed 
through 

the National Institutes of 
Health; according to another 
study, “In the United States 
(U.S.), as in other racialized 
countries 
in 
the 
world, 

racially 
stigmatized 
and 

disenfranchised populations 
have 
worse 
health 
than 

their 
more 
advantaged 

counterparts.”

According to Assari, based on 

higher rates of discrimination 
against Black males — including 
police 
brutality 
and 
mass 

incarceration 
— 
he 
expected 

worse effects on mental health 
later in life for males than in 
females. The paper also outlined 
a number of negative stereotypes 
associated with Black men, such 
as being considered endangered, 

aggressive, 
angry 
and 
self-

destructive.

Assari 
also 
attributed 
his 

expectations to differing coping 
mechanisms 
between 
genders; 

Assari noted in his paper females 
tend to use an avoidant coping 
mechanism while males are more 
confrontational. In a previous 
study, Assari noted differences in 
vulnerability and susceptibility to 
stressors between the genders as 
well.

“Those who get exposed to more 

discrimination over time become 
more depressed and more anxious 
one decade later when they are 
young … but particularly if they are 
male,” Assari said.

Females 
have 
more 
social 

support, express emotions and 
hold conversations about their 
problems, 
Assari 
said, 
while 

masculinity tends to be a barrier 
for males wanting to reach out and 
seek help.

“Women tend to have access to 

social support and use it better,” 
Assari said. “Discrimination is 
worse in the presence of high 
masculinity.”

Additionally, 
males 
and 

females are sensitive to different 
types of discrimination; males 
are more sensitive to fear-based 
discrimination, while females are 
more sensitive to being ignored or 
disregarded in a discriminating 
manner.

Nonetheless, Black men make up 

the group least likely to seek mental 
health care, Assari said, stemming 
from a consistent social lack of 
knowledge about this community 

and a stigma surrounding the 
current health care system.

Daniel 
Lee, 
a 
postdoctoral 

student working at the Prevention 
Research Center in the Public 
Health School specifically working 
on the Flint Adolescent Study data 
used in Assari’s research, wrote in 
an email interview that because 
of this data, mental health and 
services to treat mental illness 
need to become priorities in 
communities.

“This may involve dismantling 

negative attitudes and stigma 
around mental illness and mental 
health care,” Lee wrote. “Anti-
stigma programs such as the 
National Alliance for the Mentally 
Ill may play a vital role in this 
process. A study actually found 
that people of color (especially 
males) are apprehensive about 
seeking mental health care due to 
stigma, but that they still want to 
seek out help in some form.” 

Lee 
also 
stressed 
concern 

for institutional barriers such 
as affordability and insurance 
coverage, as well as the need for 
mental health care to be culturally 
tailored.

“Ethnic 
and 
racial 
groups 

possess unique cultural practices, 
traditions, 
and 
beliefs,” 
Lee 

wrote. “It is, therefore, crucial 
that mental health professionals 
integrate key cultural elements 
into their clinical assessment, case 
conceptualization, and treatment 
plan.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

 
 
 
 
 DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

