The overall objective of this research proposal is to continue a national investigation of mental health, coping and help-seeking in black Americans. Specifically, the focus is on the relationships among racial status, socioeconomic position, social stress and mental health. Special emphasis is placed upon internal and external factors that influence help-seeking behavior. The proposed study capitalizes on the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) and requests support to follow-up all available 2,107 respondents interviewed in 1979-80. The national nine year three wave panel sample of blacks will permit new comparisons and the assessment of change over time. National data of this kind have never before been available. Our previous work and published accounts in the literature (Aneshensel et al., 1982a, 1982b; Blair & Czaja, 1982; Cannel et al., 1981; Groves & Kahn, 1979; Tucker, 1983) suggest that telephone interviewing is a cost effective alternative to face-to-face household procedures. The proposed study builds methodologically on the investigator's research experience with national face-to-face and telephone samples of the black and white populations and substantively on findings from recent community surveys. Because of its size, scope and multiple panel design, the results of this study should permit more definitive investigation of the relative contributions of internal and external mediating factors to mental health status and help seeking in black Americans.
