Racial Disparities in Mental Health and Treatment During COVID-19
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought a slew of social, physical, mortal, and psychological challenges that people around the world have had to overcome. These challenges include social isolation, dealing with personal or familial exposure and/or contraction of COVID-19, and job and school loss, according to research. For people of color, these challenges were more pronounced.
For mental health specifically, the pattern is the same. Mental health on average declined for Americans during the pandemic. However, the mental health of racial minorities fared worse. According to research conducted by sociologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Bowling Green State University, the mental health of Black, Asian, and Hispanic study participants worsened more compared to the mental health of White participants. The researchers discovered this by analyzing data collected by the 2019 National Household Interview Survey and the 2020–2021 Household Pulse Survey from 1,707,606 total participants. According to this same report, people from these minority groups were more likely to experience depression and anxiety, with Hispanic and Black people scoring highest on scales measuring symptoms of depression or anxiety and also having a higher probability of not receiving access to treatment when categorized as having a mental illness.
For mental health specifically, the pattern is the same. Mental health on average declined for Americans during the pandemic. However, the mental health of racial minorities fared worse. According to research conducted by sociologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Bowling Green State University, the mental health of Black, Asian, and Hispanic study participants worsened more compared to the mental health of White participants. The researchers discovered this by analyzing data collected by the 2019 National Household Interview Survey and the 2020–2021 Household Pulse Survey from 1,707,606 total participants. According to this same report, people from these minority groups were more likely to experience depression and anxiety, with Hispanic and Black people scoring highest on scales measuring symptoms of depression or anxiety and also having a higher probability of not receiving access to treatment when categorized as having a mental illness.
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However, these disparities do not stop here. Although people of color were more likely to have worse mental health and experience more mental illnesses, their access to mental wellness resources was also lower. This means that it was more challenging for them to pursue treatment options such as therapy, medication, or psychiatric visits, according to research. This inequity brings to light the widening gap between the mental wellness support that many White people in America can access and what many people of color in America can access. With that being said, the University of Alabama research study does have some limitations, specifically that the data collected was self-reported. This could potentially lower the reliability of the results because the researchers could not remove bias from answers or ensure that participants were responding in an accurate way. In addition, this study did not account for immediate real-world changes that happened during the pandemic that were not necessarily related to the pandemic, but may still have affected people's mental health. For example, the George Floyd murder took place during the pandemic; however, even though it was not related to COVID-19, it impacted people's mental health, specifically traumatizing Black people.
Regardless of the study’s limitations, its findings are important to consider because they highlight the greater adverse effects of the pandemic on minority racial groups and the difficulty they face in seeking treatment. All of these aspects, combined with systemic issues and sociodemographic differences, have led to a growing divide in the realm of mental health between people of color and their White counterparts.
Regardless of the study’s limitations, its findings are important to consider because they highlight the greater adverse effects of the pandemic on minority racial groups and the difficulty they face in seeking treatment. All of these aspects, combined with systemic issues and sociodemographic differences, have led to a growing divide in the realm of mental health between people of color and their White counterparts.
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