title: The epidemiology of mental illness in Afro-Americans.
abstract: The epidemiologic study of mental illness among Afro-Americans has progressed since the antebellum period when the rate of mental illness among free Afro-Americans living in the North was inflated to justify continued slavery. Community-wide surveys conducted after World War II demonstrated that when socioeconomic variables were controlled, the rate of mental illness among Afro-Americans was no higher than that of other groups. The rates of mental illness and substance abuse of Afro-Americans vary according to socioeconomic class and are also related to differential family structure, early performance in school, and antisocial behavior of fathers. Despite progress, undersampling of middle-class Afro-Americans and poor, unemployed, young, urban Afro-American males are consistent deficiencies of surveys that even the ambitious NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program seems to share.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005190:Family; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012923:Social Class; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States