Social Work's Role in the Mental Health of Black Boys

Background and Purpose:

Research on the mental health of Black boys is increasingly prevalent.  (Joe, Scott, & Banks, 2018; Lindsey, Banks, Cota, Lawrence Scott, & Joe, 2018; Livingston & Nahimana, 2006). The K-12 school setting is a particularly important context for the mental health of boys of color given the intersection of labeling, punishment, and the potential for early assessment and multi-system intervention. A thorough synthesis of this evolving peer-reviewed literature is needed to clarify the emerging themes on black boys and mental health, and to identify  implications for the field of social work. 

Methods:

Six scholarly databases were mined using a systematic search protocol to locate peer-reviewed literature focusing on Black boys and mental health in K-12 educational settings between the years of 2000-2018. Each article abstract was carefully reviewed before a more thorough review of articles was conducted to delineate the focus on Black boys, mental health and K-12 school settings.. Mental health was defined as any clinical or non-clinical description of mental, emotional or psychological challenges. Dedoose, an online qualitative data analysis tool, was utilized to synthesize themes across articles, complimented by a four-tiered matrix method for organizing the literature (Garrard, 2017). Twenty-seven peer-reviewed articles were included in the final review; these articles were synthesized for themes, trends, and overlapping focus, as well as implications for the field of social work.

Results:

Across the Twenty-seven peer-reviewed articles on Black boys and mental health in K-12 settings, four themes emerged. First, aggressive externalizing behaviors of Black boys was addressed using high rates of punitive disciplinary action in schools, these actions contributed to a cycle of further delinquency and disciplinary action. Second, contextual factors from the home and community environment often influenced the development and mental health challenges for Black boys, resulting in behaviors that often manifest in the school setting. The most common contextual factors included community violence, racism, poverty, and fatherlessness. Third, literature consistently reported that mental health challenges among black boys were misrecognized and misinterpreted as poor behaviors. The disregarding of depression symptoms in Black boys and increasing suicide rates of this population are discussed in these articles as well as the over diagnosing of behavioral disorders. The final emerging theme concerned the utilization of available mental health services and the need for improved access of mental health services for this population.

Conclusion and Implications:

The growing interest in mental health in K-12 school settings for Black boys is encouraging. Research has shifted from viewing this population through a deficit model to addressing Black boy’s mental health with a strength-based approach. There remains an overall dearth of mental health literature that is disaggregated to account for both race and gender, particularly for the K-12 school setting. Social Work is uniquely suited to address many of the gaps in this research, particularly with regard to implementing better mental health assessments; diagnosis and interventions tailored to the unique context of Black school age boys.

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