Ethnic Families and Mental Health

Mental health and well-being has become an increasingly importantsocial concern today, and the manner in which families perceive and respond to mentallyill family members is often directly linked to symptom management and treatmentoutcomes. There has been a limited amount of research focusing on non-Caucasianfamilies’ mental health concerns, yet some emerging evidence suggests that ethnicity mayplay a role in a variety of ways. The purpose of this article will be to apply the ABC-XModel of Family Stress to organize the research on ethnic families and mental healthissues. In particular, occurrence of the stressor of mental illness among ethnicfamilies, family resources that may be most relevant to ethnic families, and researchhighlighting the unique ways in which ethnic families may perceive mental health andillness conditions will be discussed. In addition, future research directions to betterunderstand the interaction between ethnic families and mental health, as well asprogrammatic and policy initiatives that can address potential family, community, andlarge-scale social obstacles in seeking treatment will be presented