Ana Acoltzi
ENG 2150
Spring 2023
Assignment 2: Compare and Contrast
Research question: How do cultural factors and race impact the expression and treatment of mental health disorders?
As human beings, we all go through struggles to a certain extent and under different circumstances. It’s part of life to have ups and downs with our mental stability. What’s important is how a person might want to deal with their mental health. Treatment and therapy are always a solution but unfortunately, not all communities have that access or courage, to begin with. Which leads to the question as in, why? There could be endless reasons why this might be. But in this case, I want to focus specifically on the argument of how culture and race might affect a person’s expression and treatment of mental health disorders. Throughout my research, I found two articles that could further describe the connection between culture and race to mental health. One of them is called: Mental Health Issues in Racial and Ethnic Minority Elderly by Nhi-Ha T. Trinh, Richard Bernard-Negron, and Iqbal Ahmed. The second article is called: Trends in College Student Mental Health and Help-Seeking by Race/ethnicity: Findings From The National Healthy Minds Study, 2013-2021 by a group of at least nine researchers. Given the fact that both articles talk about mental health; an even more crucial part of this research involves the different rhetorical appeals each article can provide to further support the reason that culture and race have an impact on mental health.
To begin with, mental health professionals need to consider cultural factors and race when it comes to mental health. I believe it is a factor that some people might overlook when it comes to mental health, and regardless of anyone’s background; mental health care should be provided to all individuals. It would also be crucial to address the structural barriers that limit access to mental health care for marginalized communities and to work towards eliminating the systemic inequities that contribute to mental health disparities. Fortunately, these two articles provide information to get us closer to these social conflicts. Throughout their research they targeted different demographics; as you can tell from their article titles. One of them targeted college students that could consist of ages eighteen to twenty-two, while the other article focuses on elders from minority communities. Their different demographics bring characterization to their research because the reader gets to know more about these two different groups. There can also be a sense of connection to these demographics because most could relate to them especially when it comes to mental health.
But to summarize the article about college student’s mental health it was a long study where they gathered data from 2013 to 2021. They gathered volunteers throughout all those years and provided them with a survey which they can gather data from. As a result, they discovered that student’s mental health has worsened among all the racial groups they could gather. Whereas, the other article concluded that racial and ethnic minority elders frequently encounter a burden of unmet mental health needs. Both of these conclusions add up to how culture and race can impact a person’s mental health. On top of this, it is crucial to mention how different these two articles are structured. What makes their structure very different is how and what they did to present or demonstrate their data. For instance, the college student article consists of three tables of data they have gathered from their survey. They made sure to explain each table and how they were able to gather it; to make their final claim. Although, the article on the elders also has at least one table they were more focused on the reasons behind culture and race impacting the mental health of elders. Their data was broken into sections that make it easier to navigate and find a specific detail the reader might be looking for. By the end of their sections, they were able to make their final statement.
Even though both articles have different structures they share a similar conflict, which is mental health. Both of them strived to gather any kind of data that involves mental health and how it might pact different racial groups. For example, the elder study made sure to state that: “As the population of racial and ethnic minority elderly continues to grow, there is a demographic and public health imperative to understand how to better care for this population.” Whereas, the student study claimed that: “The purpose of this study is to examine annual trends for mental health and help-seeking by race/ethnicity in a national sample of college students.” They might sound different but they share a similar conflict, which is how they might be able to treat mental health with different racial groups. Especially on how culture and ethnicity might contribute to this conflict.
Besides, their related conflict they also share similar appeals. Specifically, ethos and logos. Both articles focus on case studies, statistics, or references to other research which is what makes them appeal to logos. For example, the article on elder minorities made sure to reference that: “This review evaluates the impact of race, ethnicity, and culture on the aging process, psychopathology, psychiatric care, education, and clinical research.” This demonstrates that this article was written based on other studies and statistics. This useful information can make the reader further understand how mental health can be treated and get to know a specific minority group even more. Since this information in both articles provides research and actual studies it can make the reader trust their findings, which can lead to ethos. Ethos consists of credible sources and credibility in the research. I would argue that both articles were able to provide ethos since they are confident and serious about mental health as the main topic. To further demonstrate ethos; in one of the articles they made sure to talk about the process of their research including how everything is consensual and even had an unbiased categorization. For instance, in the college student study they made sure to inform the reader that: “While it has been common in research to operationalize White as the reference group, we depart from this practice to avoid perpetuating the idea that any racial/ethnic group represents the ‘norm’.” This appealed to me because not only are they breaking from being biased but it also shows how they are serious about finding out every racial group’s problem with mental health. This creates some trust with the reader because they are honest with their decisions and demonstrate their sincere interest in finding out results involving mental health.
As a result, both articles share similar qualities with just different structures but that’s what makes them stand out from each other. Overall, this topic is important because it’s something we can all relate to and should focus on too. After all, mental health can affect our daily lives. Breaking down these two articles helped me understand this topic even deeper because instead of reviewing it argumentatively it was reviewed structurally. Hopefully, by the end, there is a further understanding of mental health depending on each racial group.
Sources:
- Lipson , Sarah Ketchenn, Sasha Zhou , Sara Abelson , Justin Heinze , Matthew Jirsa , Jasmine Morigney , Akilah Patterson , Meghna Singh , and Daniel Eisenberg . “Trends in College Student Mental Health and Help-Seeking by Race/Ethnicity: Findings from the National Healthy Minds Study, 2013 – 2021,” March 18, 2022. https://www-sciencedirectcom.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0165032722002774?via%3Dihub.
2. Trinh , Nhi-Ha T., Richard Bernard-Negron, and Iqbal Ike Ahmed . “Mental Health Issues in Racial and Ethnic Minority Elderly .” NYC, September 14, 2019.