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Schedule:
Friday, January 16, 2026
Marquis BR 6, ML 2 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)
* noted as presenting author
Background:
Black men experience significant disparities in mental health care utilization, resulting in unmet needs and adverse outcomes. The extant research emphasizes the negative impact of socioeconomic barriers and systemic factors, including income inequality, racism, and a lack of culturally responsive interventions, on the mental health outcomes of Black men. A critical research gap lies in understanding the influence of individual-level determinants of mental health on service utilization. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship of individual-level determinants of mental health, including marital status, insurance status, and marital status, is essential to improving access and subsequent outcomes. This study applies the Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization to examine predisposing, enabling, and need factors relationship to mental health service utilization among Black men. Through secondary data analysis, the study aims to provide new insights into the individual-level mechanisms driving utilization.
Methods:
This secondary data analysis examined data from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and included a subsample of 359 African American men aged 18 and older. Guided by Andersen’s Behavioral Model, the study examined predisposing (age, marital status), enabling (insurance status, income), and need factors (depression, anxiety) associated with mental health care utilization. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the predictive influence of these variables on service use.
Results:
A forward logistic regression was conducted to examine the extent to which predisposing, enabling, and need factors predict Black men's utilization of mental health services. The overall model fit was statistically significant (-2 Log Likelihood = 250.77), effectively distinguishing between service users and non-users (χ²(1) = 20.24, p < .001). The model correctly classified 87.5% of cases. Among the predictors, only marital status emerged as statistically significant (B = 0.977, Wald = 8.49, p < .05, Odds Ratio = 2.66), indicating that married individuals are 2.6 times more likely to utilize mental health services than those who are not married.
Discussion/Conclusion: A significant study finding was the importance of marital status as a significant predictor of mental health service utilization among Black men. This study supports Andersen’s Behavioral Model conceptualization of the central role of predisposing factors, specifically marital status, for healthcare utilization. The study findings challenge existing literature that emphasizes income, insurance, and clinical need as the primary factors driving utilization. The lack of significance of these factors may be indicative of a greater need to examine the culturally and contextually relevant drivers of service utilization for Black men. However, caution must be exercised in considering these findings as the data may not capture all relevant variables or experiences of Black men. Implications for social work practice emphasize the critical role of family and community support in shaping help-seeking behaviors for Black men. Future research should examine culturally specific individual-level factors including self-stigma, and provider mistrust. By addressing these culturally specific individual-level factors through practice and research, social workers can make strides towards achieving equity in mental health care utilization for Black men.
Black men experience significant disparities in mental health care utilization, resulting in unmet needs and adverse outcomes. The extant research emphasizes the negative impact of socioeconomic barriers and systemic factors, including income inequality, racism, and a lack of culturally responsive interventions, on the mental health outcomes of Black men. A critical research gap lies in understanding the influence of individual-level determinants of mental health on service utilization. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship of individual-level determinants of mental health, including marital status, insurance status, and marital status, is essential to improving access and subsequent outcomes. This study applies the Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization to examine predisposing, enabling, and need factors relationship to mental health service utilization among Black men. Through secondary data analysis, the study aims to provide new insights into the individual-level mechanisms driving utilization.
Methods:
This secondary data analysis examined data from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and included a subsample of 359 African American men aged 18 and older. Guided by Andersen’s Behavioral Model, the study examined predisposing (age, marital status), enabling (insurance status, income), and need factors (depression, anxiety) associated with mental health care utilization. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the predictive influence of these variables on service use.
Results:
A forward logistic regression was conducted to examine the extent to which predisposing, enabling, and need factors predict Black men's utilization of mental health services. The overall model fit was statistically significant (-2 Log Likelihood = 250.77), effectively distinguishing between service users and non-users (χ²(1) = 20.24, p < .001). The model correctly classified 87.5% of cases. Among the predictors, only marital status emerged as statistically significant (B = 0.977, Wald = 8.49, p < .05, Odds Ratio = 2.66), indicating that married individuals are 2.6 times more likely to utilize mental health services than those who are not married.
Discussion/Conclusion: A significant study finding was the importance of marital status as a significant predictor of mental health service utilization among Black men. This study supports Andersen’s Behavioral Model conceptualization of the central role of predisposing factors, specifically marital status, for healthcare utilization. The study findings challenge existing literature that emphasizes income, insurance, and clinical need as the primary factors driving utilization. The lack of significance of these factors may be indicative of a greater need to examine the culturally and contextually relevant drivers of service utilization for Black men. However, caution must be exercised in considering these findings as the data may not capture all relevant variables or experiences of Black men. Implications for social work practice emphasize the critical role of family and community support in shaping help-seeking behaviors for Black men. Future research should examine culturally specific individual-level factors including self-stigma, and provider mistrust. By addressing these culturally specific individual-level factors through practice and research, social workers can make strides towards achieving equity in mental health care utilization for Black men.