The Declaration of Independence, the most influential document in our nation’s history, contains the phrase, “All men are created equal.” When Thomas Jefferson wrote this sentence in 1776, it carried with it the idea of hope, equality, and freedom. However, the once awe-inspiring phrase is now empty and meaningless. It's once patriotic message has been lost to the persistent and grotesque societal illness that is racial stereotyping. We must put an end to racial stereotyping due to its negative impact on students’ academic performance and emotional well-being.
Academic performance has been shown to be negatively affected by racial stereotyping. Hyphen Magazine News Reporter, Helen Hwang has stated that, “Asian Americans are the most frequently
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Mental health issues can develop in an individual as a result of racial stereotyping. “According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States face a social and economic environment of inequality that includes greater exposure to racism which takes a toll on mental health”.
-A significant number of racial minorities in the United States suffer from substandard mental health issues due to racial stereotypes.
“In a recent review focusing on African and Asian-American adults, greater self-reported racial discrimination was associated with increased risk of mental health problems in 37 of 40 studies.”
Mental health issues caused by stereotyping often leads many students to consider suicide. “In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report revealed that racial stereotyping has resulted in suicide becoming the third-leading cause of death for Black men between the ages of 15 and 24.”
-Students often cope with racial stereotyping by committing suicide.
-They can't think properly and, unfortunately, they see death as the
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That fear creates a sense of mental exhaustion, which just doesn't affect their academic performance, but also losing their confidence and trust in mankind.
Some researchers claim that “Racial stereotypes can be positive since they help us in guiding and shaping our attitudes and behaviors toward other people, basically providing us with conscious awareness of differences in race.” However, there are many other researchers who have concluded that racial stereotyping leads to systematic discrimination.
-This creates hatred and builds barriers between races.
In fact, people who are prejudiced believe they are more superior than their targets. The superior often think of themselves as liberating the inferior. Initially, the superior think they are turning ‘barbaric’ people into ‘cultured’ people.
-One Example of this can be seen in France, where religious wear is banned. France basically “stereotyped” religious wear and thought that if they banned it, women would look prettier and blend in easier when really, a lot of Muslim women are angry because they have been stripped of their right to express their religious
Throughout history stereotyping has been used to generalize a race class. Although when a race is being stereotyped it can be done in a positive way, in many cases it has also been done in order to keep a minority group inferior. In the article, “Thin Ice” by Claude M. Steele, Steele shows how African Americans who are stereotyped or have the mental image of being stereotyped negatively can affect their success in their academic success. In the other hand, in Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s “The Asian American Achievement Paradox” demonstrates when a stereotype is positive it can feed one’s ego and deliver better outcomes in a people’s academic achievements. Even though a large population of people can be stereotyped in a certain way through false concepts, it can affect the mindset of a single individual.
Racism against African Americans and other ethnicities is still prevalent in our society. Salis (2015) mentions a recent poll of Caucasian and African Americans and found that sixty percent of those surveyed felt racial relationships ha vent improved and forty percent felt they were worse. In this paper, I will identify how a counselor can reduce the effects of racism and discrimination that has affected African Americans. Additionally, I will address what role a counselor plays in reducing the stigma of mental illness within the African American community. Furthermore, I will highlight the legal and ethical issues identified in the video
13.2% of the United States population identifies themselves as Black as African Americans, and of those over 16% had an mental illness that was diagnosable. The socio economic impact of a history of slavery, sharecropping and race-based exclusion from health, racism, spiritual beliefs, social and economic resources, education and other factors are key factors that contribute to African American disparities today. Many of these things are linked to mental health. According to the US department of health, African Americans are 20% more likely to report having serious psychological distress than in non-Hispanic whites (. Despite knowing this, African Americans are less likely to seek mental health services than white Americans.
The psychiatric profession 's primary index for diagnosing psychiatric symptoms, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), does not include racism, prejudice, or bigotry as a category or diagnosis in its text or index. Therefore, there is
Some people have the option to have a great health care system and reinsure that their well being is being greatly taken care of. However, this is not the case for others. African Americans are proved to have the worst health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Throughout history, African Americans have always been discriminated based on skin color. Because of this disadvantage African Americans are more prone to stress, leading to negative health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Discrimination can lead to stress, stress leads to stressful conditions such as poverty, crime, or poor housing. These stressful conditions can lead to unhealthy behaviors such as illegal crime, smoking, or substance use (Golash-Boza,2015). Due to the stressful resources African Americans are dealing with they can deal with these situations by eating unhealthy foods, therefore, causing a negative health outcome. Racism and health are indeed correlated with one another. As stated by Golash-Boza in Race and Racisms, “racial discrimination continues to be prevalent in our society and leads to negative health outcomes for people of color”. Overall racism can affect health in many ways. Those who live in poor neighborhoods, racial bias in medical care, the stress of experience of discrimination, and the social brand of inferiority can have consequences for health (Williams, 1999). Race can be a big factor in the type
Given the prolonged exposure to such negativity, numerous social scientists were puzzled on whether the psychological health of African Americans was possible. While there were several studies that found race-related attitudes to be positively related to healthier psychological outcomes in African Americans; there were only an insufficient amount of reports that endeavored to assess what factors precede
Children and adolescents are vulnerable to the harmful effects of racism and racial discrimination. This leads to consequences both in their childhood and through the life trajectory (Priest et al., 2014). Racism is expressed in various ways through emotions, behaviors/practices, and beliefs embedded in structures and social systems (Priest et al., 2014). Currently, there is increasing empirical evidence that vicarious racial discrimination leads to negative health outcomes for adolescents and children. Vicarious racism is hearing or seeing someone else experience racism. (Priest et al., 2014). Studies show that adolescence and childhood stages are the foundations for mental health outcomes across the life stages (Priest et al., 2014). Intervening during the adolescent years is recommended as an important way to reduce inequalities in mental health outcomes during their life span (Priest et al.,
There is growing evidence that exposure to racial discrimination may contribute to the greater incidence of psychosis in ethnic minorities in the UK. In particular, Karlsen et al (2005) found that the level of perceived discrimination among ethnic minorities in the UK mirrored the prevalence rates of psychosis found in other studies (King et al. 2005), with the Afro-Caribbean community reporting the highest levels of discrimination. Further studies showed that they also have a greater tendency to attribute adverse life events, such difficulties with their housing,
Depression is a common factor between discrimination victims. “Although most people experience sadness at one time or another, in the United States between 8 and 26 percent of the population meet the psychiatric criteria for clinical depression.” Wilma(1) That number is way to high. Taking out racism will Drop it at lest 2-3%. Depression starts to show in the victims social life.“Depression is a mental disorder grounded in the social realities and expectations” Mankiller, Willma (12). This can mean that someones expectation of themselves may go down because of being discriminated. This is bad because they will think less and less of themselves until the just give up.
In a study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health (2003), researchers addressed mental health disparities between communities of color and the White community in several areas of health and well-being. Results indicated that although the amount of Asian Americans and African Americans students living in Greater Minnesota is relatively small, they reported much higher levels of several key risk behaviors than do their counterpart. More specifically, African Americans tend to score twice as worse as their White counterparts in most areas (sexual activity, fighting, emotional distress, smoking, drinking, family ties, activities, and etc.).
Stereotypes are like a type of infectious sickness that wears down a person’s true character, and they produce a sort of blindness to characteristics that are worthwhile. Stereotypes perpetuate false and unnecessary judgments, and they devalue humans. When people are placed in a group, they are limited and marginalized by those making judgments. Any factors such as race, religion, gender, and personality can be the source of a stereotype, so anyone can become a victim. Stereotypes are conclusions drawn by people that are heavily influenced by peers, family, pre-existing knowledge, and the media, and that too often become accepted societal biases. Historically, in the United States, stereotypes and stereotype threats have always existed, especially
There have been very few qualitative explorations of how racial discrimination influences mental health. One notable example is an ethnographic study by Masko (2005) situated within the Critical Race Theory framework that examined a 12-year old girl’s experience with racism. In accordance with an ethnographic approach, Masko followed the young girl, Keandra, for nine months and interviewed Keandra at various points during this time period. The results of this study revealed that Keandra viewed racism as an ordinary part of her life. At one point Keandra stated, “Well if me and my friend are walking down the hall, they would just come up to you, and for no reason they’ll blame you of stuff and then they’ll call you like Black or nigger or all
When we think of the issues that stereotypes cause, we usually focus on the negative characteristics associated with targeted social groups. But is the real problem the stereotypes that are considered positive?
Racial discrimination can show itself in multiple forms as well as in multiple settings. One of the main areas that racial discrimination can show itself is the workplace. This can be incredibly detrimental to the company as well as the public perception of the company which in turn, can affect the income of the company as a whole. Not only can racial discrimination in the workplace negatively affect the company, but it can have extremely detrimental effects on the mental health of the worker. A study from Arnold B. de Castro and other collaborators showed that there is a correlation
When compared to European Americans, minorities are at a higher risk to experience emotional and physical stress due to racism. Based on a study performed by Kathleen Anderson, she found that racism causes greater stress in minorities which leads to poor mental and physical health (Silverstein). The research provides an explanation including, “Anderson found that 18.2 percent of black participants experienced emotional stress and 9.8 percent experienced physical stress. Comparatively, only 3.5