Department of Psychological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, United States of America.
Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Oct 19;18(10):e0293078. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293078. eCollection 2023.
Racism creates and sustains mental health disparities between Black and White Americans and the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing harassment directed at Black Americans has exacerbated these inequities. Yet, as the mental health needs of Black Americans rise, there is reason to believe the public paradoxically believes that psychopathology hurts Black individuals less than White individuals and these biased distress judgments affect beliefs about treatment needs. Four studies (two pre-registered) with participants from the American public and the field of mental health support this hypothesis. When presented with identical mental illnesses (e.g., depression, anxiety, schizophrenia), both laypeople and clinicians believed that psychopathology would be less distressing to Black relative to White individuals. These distress biases mediate downstream treatment judgments. Across numerous contexts, racially-biased judgments of psychological distress may negatively affect mental healthcare and social support for Black Americans.
种族主义在美国黑人和白人之间造成并维持心理健康差距，而针对美国黑人的 COVID-19 大流行和持续骚扰使这些不平等现象更加恶化。然而，随着美国黑人的心理健康需求不断增加，人们有理由相信，公众反而认为精神病对黑人的影响小于白人，而这些有偏见的痛苦判断会影响对治疗需求的看法。两项来自美国公众和心理健康领域的参与者参与的预先注册研究支持这一假设。当呈现相同的精神疾病（例如，抑郁症、焦虑症、精神分裂症）时，非专业人士和临床医生都认为精神病对黑人的痛苦程度低于白人。这些痛苦偏见影响了下游的治疗判断。在许多情况下，对心理困扰的种族偏见判断可能会对美国黑人的心理健康护理和社会支持产生负面影响。
