Race and Racialized Identity: Mental and Physical Health Pillar

Educators can use the following links to jump to a specific section of this page:

• Research summaries
• Psychologist profiles
• Additional resources

Suggested instructions: These research summaries can be incorporated into a lecture or shared with students as a reading to demonstrate how psychological science explores the diversity of human experience. These resources can also be used to encourage students to identify the major components of a research study (i.e., the hypothesis or study question, sample, method, and findings). Students can be asked to identify potential limitations of the study and encouraged to discuss the implications for our understanding of human behavior. Keywords highlight how concepts within and across pillars are incorporated into a single research study.

Suggested instructions: These profiles can be shared with students to enhance the visibility of psychologists of diverse backgrounds. As an additional activity, students can be asked to conduct research to learn more about psychologists and their work. An alternative assignment could be to ask students to find other psychologists of diverse backgrounds whose work falls into this content pillar. Keywords highlight how psychological scientists study concepts within and across pillars.

Suggested instructions: Additional resources are provided as supporting instructional aids for teachers to use in class.

Poster

• Hispanic Star. (n.d.). Mental health is a Latino issue too. Retrieved June 9, 2023, from https://hispanicstar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/mental-health-1024x620.pngopens in new window
  
  This poster was created by Hispanic Staropens in new window, an organization focused on elevating the Hispanic community in the U.S. The poster underscores the fact that only about one-third of people in the Hispanic community who are struggling with psychological challenges receive treatment.

Video

• Our Mental Health Minute. (2016, December 19). Session 2. Therapy. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hxR5ysPk4opens in new window
  
  The goal of this program, Our Mental Health Minute, hosted by Drs. Riana Elyse Anderson and Shawn “CT” Jones, is to reduce stigma about mental health in the Black community and to provide resources to help members of the Black community find quality mental health care. This session from Our Mental Health Minute focuses on what to expect when considering therapy.

Website

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Racial/ethnic differences in mental health service use among adultsopens in new window. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
  
  The datapoints from a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website on racial/ethnic differences in mental health service use among adults show the estimated use of mental health services (i.e., therapy, inpatient hospitalizations) by adults from different racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
  
  Estimates of mental health service use in the past year were higher for adults reporting two or more races (17.1%), White adults (16.6%), and American Indian or Alaska Native adults (15.6%) than for Black (8.6%), Hispanic (7.3%, and Asian (4.9%) adults. The estimate of service utilization among black adults was higher than the estimate for Hispanic and Asian adults (SAMHSA, 2015).

The development of resources to broaden diversity and representation in the teaching of high school psychology resources is an APA Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools initiative supported by funding from the American Psychological Foundation David and Carol Myers Fund. This resource was developed by Eric Castro, Shawn C.T. Jones, PhD, Allyn Olsen, and Catherine Sanderson, PhD.