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Barriers to Mental Health Help Seeking at School for Asian– and Latinx–American Adolescents

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Abstract

Adolescents are most likely to receive mental health services in schools compared to other settings; however, few studies have examined barriers to mental health help seeking at school for ethnic minority adolescents. The current mixed-methods study utilized surveys and semi-structured interviews to explore the mental health literacy (MHL), stigma toward mental illness, and perceived barriers toward help seeking at middle or high schools among 55 adolescents (81.8% female; 50.0% Asian–American, 44.6% Latinx–American, 5.4% Asian/Latinx bi-racial; M age = 17.13 years, SD = 2.33). Participants’ MHL was assessed using case vignettes that depicted adolescents with symptoms of depression or bulimia. Overall, 83.9% of participants correctly recognized depression and 57.1% correctly recognized bulimia from the vignettes. Stigma correlated with perceived helpfulness of the formal service providers (r = − .37, p < .01). Qualitative analysis of participant interviews revealed important knowledge, attitudinal, and practical barriers that inhibit Asian– and Latinx–American adolescents from seeking help for mental health problems at school. The current work has implications to assist school personnel and mental health providers in understanding and reducing barriers to help seeking for Asian– and Latinx–American adolescents.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by funding from Psychological Association (APA), Promoting Psychological Research and Training on Health Disparities Issues at Ethnic Minority Serving Institutions (ProDIGs) Small Research Grant, as well as funding from Mini-Grant from Undergraduate Education Research Department at Univeristy of California, Riverside.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, Faculty Affiliate Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland, 3234 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Cixin Wang

  2. Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, University of Maryland, 3105 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Julia Barlis

  3. Department of Human Ecology, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 2103 Richard A. Henson Center, Princess Anne, MD, 21853, USA

    Kieu Anh Do

  4. Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Jingqiu Chen

  5. Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, USA

    Sandra Alami

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  1. Cixin Wang
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Correspondence to Cixin Wang.

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The authors also want to thank Dr. Shawn Bediako and Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble for being the mentors for this project.

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Wang, C., Barlis, J., Do, K.A. et al. Barriers to Mental Health Help Seeking at School for Asian– and Latinx–American Adolescents. School Mental Health 12, 182–194 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-019-09344-y

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