and depressive symptoms. Thus, exposure to distal stressors has been linked to poor mental and physical health outcomes for African Americans. Other studies have linked proximal stressors and health outcomes for African Americans. For example, researchers have found that African Americans have a sense of inferiority and low self-worth due to experiences with prejudice, which are associated with emotional distress. Similarly, internalized racism has been linked to psychiatric symptoms, including high rates of alcohol consumption, low self-esteem, and depression. These findings corroborate the minority stress theory by demonstrating that proximal stressors are associated with health disparities among racial minorities. Non-Hispanic Whites are more than twice as likely to receive antidepressant prescription treatments as are Non-Hispanic Blacks. The death rate from suicide for African American men was almost four times that for African American women, in 2009. However, the suicide rate for African Americans is 60% lower than that of the Non-Hispanic White population. A report from the U.S. Surgeon General found that from 1980 - 1995, the suicide rate among African Americans ages 10 to 14 increased 233%, as compared to 120% of Non-Hispanic Whites. Criticism and limitations Despite multiple studies indicating that minority individuals face a high degree of stress related to their minority identity, and that minority stress is associated with poor health outcomes, there are several methodological limitations and ongoing debates on this topic. First, the minority stress concept has been criticized as focusing too narrowly on the negative experiences of minority individuals and ignoring the unique coping strategies and social support structures available to them. While theoretical writings about minority stress do note the importance of coping mechanisms for minority individuals, individual studies that use minority stress theory tend to focus on negative health outcomes rather than on coping mechanisms. In the future, it will be important for researchers to consider both positive and negative aspects of minority group membership, examining whether and why one of those aspects outweighs the other in determining minority health outcomes. Also, few studies have been able to test minority stress theory in full. Most studies have examined one of the three links described above, demonstrating that minority individuals face heightened rates of prejudice, that minority individuals face health disparities, or that prejudice is related to health disparities. Together, findings from these three areas corroborate minority stress theory, but a stronger test would examine all three parts in the same study.