• Poverty level affects mental health status. African Americans living below the poverty level, as compared to those over twice the poverty level, are 4 times more likely to report psychological distress.
• African Americans are 30% more likely to report having serious psychological distress than Non-Hispanic Whites.
• Non-Hispanic Whites are more than twice as likely to receive antidepressant prescription treatments as are Non-Hispanic Blacks.
• The death rate from suicide for African American men was five times that for African American women, in 2005.
• However, the suicide rate for African Americans is generally lower than that of the Non-Hispanic White population.
• A report from the U.S. Surgeon General found that from 1980 - 1995, the suicide rate among African Americans ages 10 to 14 increased 233%, as compared to 120% of Non-Hispanic Whites.¹

MENTAL HEALTH STATUS:

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent, 2005-2006

Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
3.7	2.8	1.3

Source: CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 61.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent of poverty level, 2005-2006

	African American	Non-Hispanic White	African American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Below 100%	7.4	8.9	0.8
100%-less than 200%	5.0	6.1	0.8
200% or more	1.7	1.6	1.1

Source: CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 61.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort, all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Sadness	4.3	2.8	1.5
Hopelessness	2.4	1.9	1.3
Worthlessness	1.9	1.7	1.1
Everything is an effort	7.5	4.8	1.6

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 14.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006 ---Men

	Non-Hispanic Black Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Non-Hispanic Black Men/ Non-Hispanic White Men Ratio
Sadness	4.3	2.2	2.0
Hopelessness	2.4	1.5	1.6
Worthlessness	1.5	1.6	0.9
Everything is an effort	7.0	4.2	1.7

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 14.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006 ---Women

	Non-Hispanic Black Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Non-Hispanic Black Women/ Non-Hispanic White Women Ratio
Sadness	4.4	3.3	1.3
Hopelessness	2.3	2.2	1.0
Worthlessness	2.2	1.8	1.2
Everything is an effort	7.8	5.4	1.4

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 14.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

Percent of population with feelings of nervousness or restlessness, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Nervousness, all or most of time	4.2	4.0	1.1
Nervousness, some of time	10.3	11.6	0.9
Restlessness, all or most of time	5.6	6.0	0.9
Restlessness, some of time	11.4	12.0	1.0

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 16.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

DEATH RATES:

Age-Adjusted Death Rates for suicide, by sex, race and Hispanic Origin, 2005

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	9.4	21.2	0.4
Female	1.9	5.3	0.4
Total	5.4	12.9	0.4

Source:  CDC, 2008. National Vital Statistic Report. Vol. 56, Num 10 Table 17.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.pdf[PDF, 2.3MB]

Source: CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 28.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2005: Men

	African American Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	African American Men/ Non-Hispanic White Men Ratio
15-24 years	11.5	18.4	0.6
25-44 years	13.7	26.6	0.5
45-64 years	9.4	28.2	0.3
65 years and over	10.2	33.2	0.3
All ages	9.2	21.2	0.4

Source: CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 45.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2005: Women

	African American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	African American Women/ Non-Hispanic White Women Ratio
15-24 years	1.7	3.9	0.4
25-44 years	2.8	7.4	0.4
45-64 years	2.5	8.7	0.3
65 years and over	1.4	4.3	0.3
All ages	1.9	5.3	0.4

Source: CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 45.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

ADOLESCENTS:

Age-Adjusted Death Rates for Suicide: Ages 10 - 19

	African American	Non-Hispanic White	African American /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	4.5	8.0	0.6
Female	1.2	2.0	0.6
Total	2.8	5.3	0.5

Source:  CDC, 2008. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [ACCESSED 12/16/2008]
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9–12, 2007
Percent of students who seriously considered suicide

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	8.5	10.2	0.8
Women	18.0	17.8	1.0

Source:  CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 62.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9–12, 2007
Percent of students who attempted suicide

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	5.5	3.4	1.6
Women	9.9	7.7	1.0

Source:  CDC, 2008. Health United States, 2008. Table 62.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf[PDF, 12MB]

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE:

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year, 2005

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	7.6	10.0	0.8
Female	10.0	19.8	0.5
Total	8.9	15.1	0.6

Source:  2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 243b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr07/index.html

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received prescription medications for mental health treatment or counseling, 2005

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	4.6	8.2	0.6
Female	7.5	17.0	0.4
Total	6.2	12.8	0.5

Source:  2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 245b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr07/index.html

Adults 18 years of age and over reporting antidepressant drug use in the past month, age-adjusted percent, 1999-2002

	Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	3.0	6.1	0.5
Women	4.9	12.8	0.4
Total	4.1	9.5	0.4

Source:  CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Data table for Figure 36.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf[PDF, 479KB]

Adults age 18 and over with past year major depressive episode who received treatment for the depression, 2005

Non-Hispanic Black	Non-Hispanic White	Non-Hispanic Black/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
56.4	69.8	0.8

Source:  2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 99b.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr07/index.html