Racial self-designation and disorder in African American psychiatric patients

This study examined the relationship between racial self-designation and disorder in a sample of 156 African American psychiatric inpatients. It tested the hypothesis that self-identified African Americans have better mental health than those who adopt the label "Black." Patients underwent a multistage diagnostic procedure including a screening interview and a research interview. Subjective and objective measures of patients' mental health and social functioning were used. Patients were asked in the screening interview whether they described themselves as "African American," "Black," "Negro," or "Other" The majority of the patients preferred the label Black, followed by African American, Negro, and Other, respectively. Univariate and multivariate statistical tests suggested that the self-label Black is associated with a similar level of psychosocial functioning to the African American label. The implications of these results for further studies of the relationship between racial self-designation and mental health in people of African ancestry are discussed.