Racial disparities in law enforcement/court-ordered psychiatric inpatient admissions after the 2008 recession: a test of the frustration-aggression-displacement hypothesis.

BACKGROUND: Societies under duress may selectively increase the reporting of disordered persons from vulnerable communities to law enforcement. Mentally ill African American males reportedly are perceived as more threatening relative to females and other race/ethnicities. We examine whether law enforcement/court order-requested involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations increased among African American males shortly after ambient economic decline-a widely characterized population stressor.

METHODS: We identified psychiatric inpatient admissions requested by law enforcement/court orders from 2006 to 2011 across four US states (Arizona, California, New York, North Carolina). Our analytic sample comprises 13.1 million psychiatric inpatient admissions across 95 counties over 72 months. We operationalized exposure to economic downturns as percent change in monthly employment in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA). We used zero inflated negative binomial and linear fixed effects regression analyses to examine psychiatric inpatient admissions requested by law enforcement/court orders following regional employment decline over a time period that includes the Great Recession of 2008.

FINDINGS: Declines in monthly employment precede by one month a 6% increase in psychiatric hospitalizations requested by law enforcement/court order among African American males (p < 0.05), but not among other race/sex groups. Estimates amount to an excess of 2554 involuntary admissions among African American males statistically attributable to aggregate-level employment decline.

CONCLUSIONS: Economic downturns may increase involuntary psychiatric commitments among African American males. Our findings underscore the unique vulnerability of racial/ethnic minorities during economic contractions.