Icon Legend

This session is not in your schedule.

This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Presentation Icons

Recorded Session

Ticketed Session

Back

93 Views

Culture / Ethnicity / Race

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pathways from Familism to Mental Health Service Utilization in Youth

(PS10-39) Racial/ethnic Disparities in Pathways from Familism to Mental Health Service Utilization in Youth

Saturday, November 16, 2024

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST

Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown

Author(s)

DA

Dylan G. Aguirre, M.A.

Graduate Student
California State University, Northridge
Baldwin Park, California, United States

Co-Author(s)

JM

Jonathan I. Martinez, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
California State University, Northridge
Santa Clarita, California, United States

Abstract Text: Culture has a crucial influence on mental health symptoms and service utilization among Latinx youth (Lorenzo-Blanco et al., 2016; Schwartz et al., 2015; Varela et al., 2019). Familism is a Hispanic/Latinx cultural value focused on dedication, commitment, and loyalty to family (Nagayama Hall, 2017). Current literature suggests that familism may be related to a decrease in internalizing and externalizing symptoms and may also be related to a decrease in utilizing mental health services (Cheung et al., 2019; Villatoro et al., 2014). The current study investigated the pathways from familism/familismo to mental health service utilization via internalizing and externalizing symptoms in Latinx and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) youth. This study utilized existing data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which collects data on brain development and child health in the United States within a span of 10 years. The sample included 1,876 Latinx youth and 5,861 NHW youth, with the average age for the second-year follow-up being 11.55 (SD = .69) and the third-year follow-up being 12.45 (SD = .68). The variables examined in the current study were the youth familism subscales (Sabogal et al., 1987) and internalizing and externalizing broadband scale raw item scores from the Brief Problem Monitor – Youth (BPM-Y) Form (Achenbach, 2011), which were collected in the second year follow up, and mental health service utilization in the third year follow up. The study utilized an SEM framework by setting familism, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms as factors. A multi-group structural regression was utilized, with multiple imputation handling all missing data. Results showed that the model fit was great (CFI = .961, RMSEA = .034, SRMR = .028). There was an indirect effect of internalizing symptoms on familism and mental health service utilization for both Latinx (β = -.03, p = .005) and NHW youth (β = -.04, p < .001), and there was an indirect effect of externalizing symptoms for NHW (β = -.01, p = .006) but not Latinx youth (β = -.02, p = .235). In addition, the direct effect from familism to externalizing symptoms was stronger for Latinx youth compared to NHW youth. That is, internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms explained the relationship between high familism being related with a lower probability of utilizing mental health services for NHW youth, but only internalizing symptoms explained this relationship for Latinx youth. Findings from this study illuminate how familism may be related to mental health symptoms and service utilization, and racial/ethnic differences in these pathways. Furthermore, it also highlights the importance of including parents and caregivers into the treatment process given the importance it has on symptomatology and service utilization.