‘If You Kill Yourself, You Ain’t Gonna Go to Heaven’: The Role of Religiousness In Mental Health Help-Seeking Among Emerging Black Adult Zoomers

Background and Purpose: Black Americans face significant barriers to mental health services and underutilize formal treatment. A salient determinant of mental health help-seeking is religiousness; however, research on religiousness among Black emerging adult Zoomers (born 1997-2012) is lacking. This qualitative descriptive paper aims to fill this research gap by examining accounts of Black emerging adults to explore how religiousness has been linked to mental health help-seeking.

Methods: A total of 42 in-depth, semi-structured interviews focused on mental healthcare access were conducted with Black emerging adults (ages 18 to 29) on Zoom. Participants endorsed moderate to severe depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts according to responses on Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), and experienced mental health treatment gaps. Participants were recruited via a Qualtrics survey panel. Interviews elicited participants’ perspectives on accessing mental healthcare, including participants’ religiousness (i.e., beliefs, practices, community) in the context of mental health. Participants provided ideas on how to best increase mental healthcare access. Interviews were transcribed verbatim via Zoom and coded thematically using Dedoose software.

Findings: Nineteen Black emerging adults discussed religion, spirituality, or God in the interviews, yielding a total of 65 references to these topics. We found six themes including (1) family pressure and religious framing of mental health, (2) religion as a conversation with God, (3) religion as hope, levity, and emotional support, (4) connection to God via technology, (5) religion as a protective factor against suicide, and (6) mental health knowledge and education within the church. Religion was often viewed as a pillar of support for some Black emerging adults with endorsed mental health problems. Further, Black emerging adults may be leveraging digital religious resources to support their mental health. However, several participants also discussed challenges around religion including exacerbated fear and mental health stigma.

Conclusion: Findings highlight the interconnection between religiousness and mental health for Black emerging adult Zoomers. Future collaboration between Black churches and social workers may enable more accessible and culturally responsive mental health support for emerging Black adults. Future research should explore religious stigma and mental health in the context of Black families with emerging adult children or investigate how Black emerging adults find spiritual connection in a digital age.