Young, black, and male in foster care: Relationship of negative social contextual experiences to factors relevant to mental health service delivery

Abstract

Among a small, cross-sectional sample of young Black males transitioning from foster care (n = 74), this study explored the relationship of their negative social contextual experiences to two factors relevant to the delivery of mental health services to them: cultural mistrust of mental health professionals and attitudes toward seeking professional help. Three domains of young Black male's negative social contextual experiences were measured: proximal negative experiences, distal negative experiences, and negative imagery experiences. Results of multivariate an alysis of covariance (MANCOVA) controlling for custody status, counselling status and history, and psychiatric history showed that young Black males reporting a high frequency of negative social contextual experiences reported significantly greater cultural mistrust of mental health professionals and significantly less positive attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental health problems than young Black males reporting a low frequency of negative social contextual experiences. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Cultural Competency

“…According to Scott and Davis (2006), when young men are depressed, they tend to distract themselves from their depression by getting engaged in enjoyable activities, thinking of other things, or ignoring their problems instead of ruminating about them. Braithwaite and Taylor (2001) suggest that African American men learn to detach themselves from their feelings.…”

Cultural Mistrust of Mental Health Professionals Among Black Males Transitioning from Foster Care

“…With regard to psychiatric history, certain disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder and major depressive disorder may influence the nature of the appraisals of Black males. In a previous study, Scott and Davis (2006) found that young Black males with a psychiatric history based on DSM-IV diagnostic criteria tended to have less positive attitudes toward seeking mental health services. Controlling for counseling status and history, psychiatric history, and foster care custody status, we hypothesized that more frequent negative social contextual experiences would be related to greater cultural mistrust of mental health professionals.…”

The measurement of mistrust among religious group members inNorthernIreland

“…Similarly, analysis by Bell and Tracey identified a unitary factor structure underlying the CMI. Yet, despite the ambiguity of the factor structure, researchers have employed the full scale and combinations of the originally devised subscales in research with a variety of samples (e.g., Phelps, Taylor, & Gerard, 2001;Scott & Davis, 2006;Thompson et al, 1994).…”