Abstract
The unmet mental health needs of Black boys have become a growing concern among mental health scholars and practitioners. One reason, among others, is the recent increase in suicide rates among Black boys in urban communities. Recent statistics suggest that Black boys commit suicide at 3–4 times the rate of their White counterparts. Research studies have noted several contributing factors, namely institutional and structural racism, hypermasculine expectations and norms, stereotypical notions of Black masculinity, exposure to community-based violence, and disenfranchised grief, just a few to name. Yet, limited attention in the extant literature has been paid to Black boys’ mental health crises in urban communities. Drawing on Black Male Studies, the purpose of the entry is to highlight how the inattention and limited solutions to address the unmet mental needs of Black boys are symptomatic of a broader anti-Black misandric conspiracy to destroy Black boys and to institutionalize their anti-Black misandric psychological and social death and to exacerbate their psycho-eschatological conditions in urban communities and society.
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Bryan, N. (2022). Black Boys and Mental Health in Urban Communities. In: Lester, J.N., O'Reilly, M. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Critical Perspectives on Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12852-4_92-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12852-4_92-1
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