(PS10-28) Factors That Predict Treatment Use Among Latinx College Students

Background: Acculturative stress has been linked to many negative outcomes among Latinx young adults, including self-reported disability and increased anxiety and depression. So, what is preventing Latinx young adults experiencing increased acculturative stress from seeking treatment? Reported barriers to treatment use include a preference for informal sources of support (friends, family), and negative cultural and religious beliefs regarding mental health treatment. While there is much research on how acculturative stress affects mental health and on potential barriers to treatment use, limited research has examined the link between acculturative stress and actual in-person treatment use among Latinx young adults. This study investigated whether acculturative stress significantly predicted treatment use among Latinx college students after controlling for cultural beliefs, religious beliefs, and perceived need for treatment.

Methods: Participants were 313 Latinx college students (79% female; mean age= 19.62, SD=2.06) who completed an online survey examining mental health symptoms and cultural factors. Acculturative stress was measured with the Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale. Participants also indicated if they thought they needed help for an emotional or mental health problem in the past year, and whether they received in-person treatment from a mental health professional, primary care doctor, or psychiatrist. Finally, participants were asked how much they felt their ethnic community and religious community influenced their use of treatment. 

Results: Almost half of participants (44.7%) thought they needed help for an emotional or mental health problem in the past year. Yet, only 29.4% reported receiving in-person treatment. Of these, 18.8% saw a mental health professional, 15.7% a primary care doctor, and 9.9% a psychiatrist. About 27% of participants felt their ethnic community’s beliefs at least somewhat influenced their decision to use treatment, whereas, fewer (14.1%) felt their religious community’s belief affected their decision. A logistic regression revealed that only perceived need for treatment (OR 4.47, CI [2.51, 7.97]) and religious community’s beliefs (OR 1.45, CI [1.00, 2.00]) were significant predictors of in-person treatment use. 



Discussion: Acculturative stress did not emerge as a significant predictor of treatment use. Consistent with previous research, we found that students with greater perceived need were more likely to access in-person treatment. We also found that students’ religious community beliefs influenced treatment use. Future research should examine how to increase connections between mental health service providers and religious communities to promote increased treatment use.