Hispanic Youth And Anxiety Disorders

Different sub-groups among the Latino Community possesses varying rates of psychological disorders. A recent study, conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, surveyed those of the Latino and Hispanic Communities in the United States. This study revealed, that generally, 27% of Latinos reported having higher levels of depression. Among the various Latino groups, those having a lower score of 22.3% were those of the Mexican descent and those having a

“Anxiety is the signal of danger which mobilizes the human organism’s resources at all levels of functioning in the interests of conservation, defense, and self- preservation.” (Anxiety 1) If a person suffers from anxiety there is a major loss of control and then an attempt to regain that control because of a fear that they have. Anxiety disorders are one of the most frequently occurring mental disorders in the United States. However, anxiety disorders are not only found in the United States. They are found throughout the world. They just happen to be most predominating in the United States. In this paper, I will be discussing the generalized anxiety disorder and how if effects society today.

Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.

According to the U.S Bureau, the total U.S. population is 320,672,339 (U.S. Census, 2014). In 2014, there were a total of 54 million people of Hispanic culture living in the U.S. Making Hispanics the largest minority living in the U.S (U.S. Census, 2014). According to research b 2030, Latinos are expected to grow more than 73 million, or 20% in the U.S. (Chavez, Torrez and Adam). Hispanics make up 17% of the nation’s total population (U.S. Census, 2014). According to the U.S Department of Health and Human services in 2008, it was estimated that there was a total of 7772,000 abuse cases in which 20% of them involved Latino children, and 8% were sexual abuse cases.

Currently, 21.4% of youth aged 13-18 and 13% of children aged 8-15 experience significant mental health problems in the U.S. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015). Also, mental health problems are currently extremely stigmatizing in most Asian cultures, and compared to Caucasians, Asian Americans exhibit significantly high levels of mental health problems (Young et al., 2010). In general, depressive symptoms are associated with major developmental impairments that may persist a child’s later life. Thus, experiencing various stressors of Asian American immigrant children during their before and after immigration processes impact their psychological well-being.

The Southwest United States is an area of great diversity. It is located on the border between the US and Mexico. In this region there are four main ethnicities represented: Hispanics, African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Native Americans. These groups interact daily working in the same offices and going to school together. Youth of each ethnicity face risks as they grow up. By focusing on the Hispanic adolescent girl the extent of the possible risks to one ethnicity can be explored. These risks will include motivation at school, the risk of dropping out of school, the at-risk classification, which includes gang involvement, and teen pregnancy. The results of studies focused

Iannotta, Joah G. Emerging Issues in Hispanic Health: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2002. Print.

Adolescence is a difficult time period in a young person’s transition into their later stage of both physical and mental development. Mood disorders are often overlooked during this time for the brain becoming more developed; however among children, anxiety disorders seem to be the most common disorders to be experienced (Nelson; Israel, pg 112). Barlow (2002) defines anxiety as a future-oriented emotion that is characterized by the inability to be in control and predict future events that can be potentially dangerous to the individual. Anxiety shares commonalities with fear, but the difference between the two being that fear is the initial response made from a present threat, where anxiety is due to a unknown future event. A common

According to Shattell et al. (2008), there is a notable discrepancy between Latinos’ that are in need of services and the actual utilization of services. This week’s readings provided much insight as to why Latinos underutilize mental health services. On an individual level one must consider how a person’s belief system will affect treatment. According to Shattell et al. (2008), Latinos often view mental illness as being caused by a curse and other evil spirits. They do not see their symptoms as signs of a mental illness, so in turn they would not seek services. Shattell et al. (2008) further explains that Latinos are often suspicious and guarded about disclosing their symptoms to practitioners. This can prevent a practitioner from providing

3. Corona, R., Gonzalez, T., Cohen, et al. “Richmond Latino Needs Assessment: A Community-University Partnership to Identify Health Concerns and Service Needs for Latino Youth”. J Community Health. 34.(2009): 195-201.

Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group and there are estimated to be about 54 million living in the United States (Office of Minority Health & Health Equity, YEAR). The Hispanics are a minority group that struggle every day to survive, to provide for their families, to stay healthy and to live quality lives. This paper will discuss the Hispanics current health status, how health promotion is defined by the Hispanics and what health disparities exist for the Hispanics. Lastly, this paper will discuss the three levels of health prevention and their effectiveness given the unique

There are many people in the United States who are experiencing mental health problems, yet, according to research, most of these people are not seeking help. Since it is expected that about 40 percent of adolescents living in the Unites States will be Latin-American by 2060 (qtd. In Kapke), this has made researchers want to help provide effective, accessible, and appropriate services for Latin-American families. In the article “Latino Early Adolescent Mental Health: Examining the Impact of Family Functioning, Familism, and Global Self-Worth” by Theresa Kapke, she explains that Latin American children are at risk of mental health problems due to discrimination, immigration, and serious cases of poverty that is forced upon them. Also in the

This is an article that specifically looks at anxiety in the school setting for adolescents. This article starts off with a story of a girl named Samantha. Samantha is a fourteen year old student that has test taking anxiety. She feels sweaty and would see the nurse daily because of her anxiousness. The article talks about the case of Samantha being common with many students in school. The article then goes into the different characteristics such as worry. Anxiety can manifest in three different ways: behaviorally, physiologically, and cognitively. Many different behaviors that children exhibit because of anxiety are reflected their attempts to control their anxiety. When discussing anxiety, there are different causes of anxiety and

Throughout the years within psychology, there has always been sufficient evidence that ethnicity and religion have an effect on an individual’s level of anxiety and their coping skills. Past studies have found that Asian Americans experience higher levels of anxiety and depression than European Americans (Mak, 2017). Culture is essentially one of the major aspects of society that influences both the individual and the environment (Chun et al., 2006). Elements of culture, such as individualism and collectivism, play a role in the psychological and behavioral patterns of people. Having religion as an active branch in an individual’s life embellishes the protective and defensive function that optimism has against the connection between stress

An individual that has strives to live with anxiety or an anxiety disorder faces many struggles daily because of the feelings the conditions stimulate. There are an infinite amount of symptoms, causes, and consequences, but an equal amount of treatment options and ways to handle anxiety. Anxiety disorders can be viewed as general or extremely specific, but all in all each one affects the life of a person living with one or knowing someone who struggles with it. In regards to teenagers specifically, between three and five percent children and adolescents in the United States have some sort of anxiety disorder (Foa and Andrews 2). With the many challenges teenagers already face because of pressure based on school, athletics, social