A Mixed Methods Study of Family Support and Mental Health Outcomes Among Older, Church-Going African American Men

Background and Purpose: Previous studies underscore the importance of church affiliation for older African American men, yet they rarely accentuate the role of family support in the contextual experiences (i.e., how realities are constructed and shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, and racial/ethnic values) of older, church-going African American men. Since so many African Americans use church as a buffer for their mental health concerns, and so many African American men underutilize mental health services, how church and family intersect to provide African American men with resources that aid in alleviating their poor mental health is important to this research. A first step in this effort involves understanding the role of social support in the lives of church-going African American men. Though a plethora of studies suggest that support from church members results in positive mental health outcomes among African Americans, research on the role of family support -- within the context of church affiliation -- is underdeveloped. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to understand the role of family support in the distressing experiences of older, church-going, African American men. A primary objective of the study was to explore the social and cultural contexts of family support and the role of these contexts in the language and experiences used to describe distress by the African American male respondents.

Methods: Two complimentary datasets were used to understand the role of family support in the mental health outcomes of church-going African American men aged 50 and older. Data triangulation included using a localized qualitative study of older African American men (n=21) to build a conceptual framework. Then this framework was tested using a nationally representative, quantitative sample of older, church-going African American men from the National Survey of American Life (n= 401).

Results: Qualitative results suggested that older, church-going African American men have processes for identifying and dealing with distress (including discussing distress with spouses, siblings, and children). Quantitative results from the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested an inverse relationship between family support and distress in that the more family support older, church-going African American men experienced, the lower their distress. The comparative fit index (CFI = .92), the Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI = .91), and the Root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA = .076) all indicated a good fit between the model and the observed data. This complimentary mixed methods design helped to acquire depth and breadth about the family support experiences and mental health outcomes of older, church-going African American men within their social and cultural contexts.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings demonstrate the importance of family support networks in African American male identity, successful aging, and mental health outcomes. Findings also offer opportunities to consider secondary data sources for the purposes of complimenting the analysis, inferences, timing, and conceptual framing of research problems that may require mixed methods. Implications include the need for research and practice efforts that demonstrate the importance of family support networks to increase the positive mental health transitions and trajectories for aging black men.