Europeans and Mental Health

Europeans and Mental Health

 

European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry.[3][4] This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent European arrivals. European Americans are the largest panethnic group in the United States, both historically and at present.

Resources

NAMI

Mental illnesses are common in the United States. Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (51.5 million in 2019). Mental illnesses include many different conditions that vary in degree of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe. Two broad categories can be used to describe these conditions: Any Mental Illness (AMI) and Serious Mental Illness (SMI). AMI encompasses all recognized mental illnesses. SMI is a smaller and more severe subset of AMI.

Any Mental Illness

  • Any mental illness (AMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. AMI can vary in impact, ranging from no impairment to mild, moderate, and even severe impairment (e.g., individuals with serious mental illness as defined below).

Serious Mental Illness

  • Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. The burden of mental illnesses is particularly concentrated among those who experience disability due to SMI.

Prevalence of Any Mental Illness (AMI)

  • Figure 1 shows the past year prevalence of AMI among U.S. adults.
    • In 2019, there were an estimated 51.5 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with AMI. This number represented 20.6% of all U.S. adults.
    • The prevalence of AMI was higher among females (24.5%) than males (16.3%).
    • Young adults aged 18-25 years had the highest prevalence of AMI (29.4%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (25.0%) and aged 50 and older (14.1%).
    • The prevalence of AMI was highest among the adults reporting two or more races (31.7%), followed by White adults (22.2%). The prevalence of AMI was lowest among Asian adults (14.4%)
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