West Virginia University, United States.
West Virginia University, United States.
J Anxiety Disord. 2017 Jun;49:104-113. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.04.003. Epub 2017 Apr 27.
Preliminary evidence indicates there may be differences in the prevalence and severity of anxiety in African Americans and European Americans. A number of sociocultural risk and protective factors have been suggested to contribute to these group differences, such as salience of physical illnesses, discrimination, stigma toward mental illness, religiosity, and ethnic identity. In this paper, the literature concerning each of these factors is reviewed. Overall, the strongest evidence was found for ethnic identity and stigma toward mental illness as factors underlying group differences in anxiety. Ethnic identity and stigma toward mental illness consistently differed by racial group and were associated with anxiety in African Americans. Ethnic identity may buffer against the negative consequences of anxiety, reducing prevalence rates in African Americans. Stigma toward mental illness may decrease African Americans willingness to report anxiety symptoms, reducing overall prevalence rates but increasing the severity of treated cases. The research regarding discrimination, salience of physical illnesses, and religiosity was less clear. Much more research is required, but the findings of this review suggest that future studies should put particular emphasis on stigma toward mental illness and ethnic identity as important factors in understanding African American anxiety outcomes.
初步证据表明，非裔美国人和欧洲裔美国人的焦虑症患病率和严重程度可能存在差异。有许多社会文化风险和保护因素被认为是造成这些群体差异的原因，例如身体疾病的明显性、歧视、对精神疾病的污名化、宗教信仰和种族认同。本文回顾了与这些因素有关的文献。总的来说，种族认同和对精神疾病的污名化是焦虑症群体差异的主要原因，这方面的证据最强。种族认同和对精神疾病的污名化因种族群体而异，与非裔美国人的焦虑症有关。种族认同可能会缓冲焦虑症的负面影响，降低非裔美国人的患病率。对精神疾病的污名化可能会降低非裔美国人报告焦虑症状的意愿，从而降低总体患病率，但会增加治疗病例的严重程度。关于歧视、身体疾病的明显性和宗教信仰的研究则不太明确。还需要进行更多的研究，但这篇综述的研究结果表明，未来的研究应该特别强调对精神疾病的污名化和种族认同，因为这是理解非裔美国人焦虑症结果的重要因素。
