Mechanisms of Mental-Health Disparities Among Minoritized Groups: How Well Are the Top Journals in Clinical Psychology Representing This Work?

Abstract

It has been known for decades that mental-health disparities exist among minoritized groups, including race, ethnicity, sexual identities, gender identity and expression, ability, and others. Theories and frameworks that incorporate stressors unique to the experiences of minoritized groups, such as the biopsychosocial model of racism and minority-stress model, offer testable mechanisms that may help explain, in part, mental-health disparities. However, research addressing mechanisms of these disparities is still scarce and is not well represented in top clinical psychology journals. In this review, we critically examine the extent to which top-tier clinical psychology journals publish work examining mechanisms of mental-health disparities among minoritized populations. We found that very few studies that address mechanisms of mental-health disparities have been published in top clinical psychology journals. We examine potential reasons for this and discuss recommendations for future research.