“YOU GOOD, BRUH?” AN EXPLORATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND MASCULINTY ON MILLENIAL BLACK MEN’S DECISIONS TO SEEK MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of mental illness among millennials (White-Cummings, 2017). However, there is still a significantly lower rate of Black millennials, specifically Black men, utilizing mental health services compared to other marginalized groups (Cadaret & Speight, 2018). Black men have reportedly have a higher prevalence of mental illness with little to no treatment engagement, which has been linked to the increasingly high rates of suicide. Black men and their lack of mental health treatment seeking has become an increasingly popular topic in scholarly literature, yet the research is still scarce thus far. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of social constructs on millennial Black men’s decisions about seeking mental health treatment through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) and Black Masculinity. Based on past reported themes, Black Masculinity, CRT, and BlackCrit were utilized as a multidimensional framework for this critical phenomenology qualitative study. The researcher used semi-structured interviews to investigate the experiences of 16 participants who identified as millennial Black men that had considered seeking mental health treatment regardless of their decision to seek help or not. Following a modified version of Moustakas (1994) phenomenological analysis, results indicated three themes Racialized Gendered Socialization, Cultural Distrust, and Invisibility. All themes were related to racial and masculine factors. Implications and recommendations are provided for future research and improving advocacy efforts to engage more Black men in mental health treatment.