Disproportionate Psychiatric Hospitalization of Black American Adults: A Replication Study

Disproportionate psychiatric hospitalization of Black Americans was found in a prior national study conducted with data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic (Barnes, 2026).The current study replicates the original study and reports on whether Black adults are hospitalized at a percentage higher than their population percentage and diagnostic differences between Black and White adults receiving services in state hospitals and other hospital inpatient settings. A subsample of adults ages 18 to 60 and older (N = 351,924) was drawn from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2024 Mental health client-level data set. Univariate analysis found that the percentage of Blacks receiving services in state hospitals and other hospitals exceeded their percentage in the 2024 U.S. population (12%) by 17.2% and 9.2% respectively. Bivariate and regression analysis revealed an association between Black race and diagnoses of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in both hospital settings. The findings of the current study are similar to those of the original study.