Geographic distribution of U.S. psychologists: A human ecological analysis.

Characteristics of cities and states were correlated with measures of the geographic distribution of US psychologists. Correlations for psychologists providing mental health services were compared with correlations for psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and school guidance personnel. Population size was the strongest correlate of the absolute number of psychologists in various states and cities. When number relative to population was considered, psychologists were concentrated in affluent urban states and in university towns. The same pattern was obtained for all the groups providing mental health services. No evidence was obtained that any of these groups are distributed in a way offering special advantages for serving groups such as poor, Black, or rural people, who appear to need better access to mental health services. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)