Ethnic Variations in Mental Health Attitudes and Service Use Among Low-Income African American, Latina, and European American Young Women

This study examines the predictors of mentalhealth service use among patients in an ethnicallydiverse public-care women's clinic. While waiting fortheir clinic appointments, 187 Latina, African American, and White women were interviewed about theirattitudes towards mental illness and mental healthservices. White women were much more likely to have madea mental health visit in the past than the ethnic minority women. Having a substance use problem,use of mental health services by family or friends, andbeliefs about causes of mental illness were allpredictors of making a mental health visit.