The Effect of Culture & Cultural Beliefs on Teen Mental Health Researched

by Shravya Maloo

A teenager’s culture and the cultural beliefs of his/her family or community can have a significant impact on their mental health by shaping their environment, their perspective, symptoms, and much more.

Culture is highly important to people as it can shape their entire lives, and creates something called a cultural identity. A cultural identity outlines the individual’s values and beliefs, affects how and who they spend their time with, influences what they consume (mentally and physically), and can create habits and practices based on the culture. Culture can highly affect mental health issues and even be a causing factor for some.

A culture can influence perspectives on mental health and mental illnesses and each has a different view on them. Many cultures view mental illnesses as a sign of weakness and something that should be hidden. This can discourage the teenager from getting help and scare them away from being open about their struggles. Various cultures see the topic of mental health as taboo which can affect the way individuals express their physical and emotional symptoms and how they cope with them.

Cultural perspectives and opinions on mental health issues also affect the amount of familial,

communal, societal, and clinical support that the teenagers struggling receive. If a culture disapproves of a mental illness or mental health issue, that can affect how the community, society, and the teenager’s family views it and therefore, affect how they approach the issue.

Some individuals are unfortunately left to battle mental health issues alone because of the cultural problems that come with confiding in their family or community. Many are also unable to get clinical and professional help because of cultural misunderstandings/mistrust or clashes between their cultural beliefs and those of the providers.

A family or community’s culture and ethnicity heavily impacts the environment and atmosphere that the teenager lives and grows up in. Numerous teens grow up with violence all around them, struggle with poverty, or other critical issues in today’s world. Many also face regular discrimination, racism, or insults directed at their culture/cultural identity which can significantly harm their mental health. As the National Library of Medicine states, “People in the lowest stratum of income, education, and occupation are about two to three times more likely than those

in the highest stratum to have a mental disorder,” ("Culture Counts". n.d., Chapter 2). An individual’s environment based on their culture and ethnicity can highly impact their mental health.