Chapter 15: White Racial Framing and Its Impact on African American Male Mental Health

Well-being is the presence of a sound mind and body, a good quality of life, and the promotion of healthy habits (Sundberg, Winebarger, & Taplin, 2002). To be healthy is to demonstrate a state of functioning that results in positive identity outcomes, healthy styles of relating, as well as the ability to cope with change. Since positive identity outcomes (and subsequent mental health functioning) require the individual/agency to engage internal mechanisms that combat negative interactions (Nobles, Goddard, & Gilbert, 2009), strategies developed for African Americans’ mental health functioning must significantly take into account the negative interactions they encounter daily as a result of America’s racial framing. Because traditional Western structures inherently produce outcomes that thwart the development of affirming identity traits for African Americans (Williams 2011; Wilson & Williams, 2013), appropriate therapeutic approaches for racially diverse groups must include more broadly constructed social-psychological strategies that consider the realities of diverse groups—particularly the realities of African American males, who are more likely than any other group to experience negative interactions.