(PS12-12) Associations Between Family Sociodemographic Characteristics and Caregiver Perceived Barriers and Motivation to Engage in Youth Mental Health Care

It is estimated that only 2.5% of youth with mental health (MH) impairments receive needed services (De Haan et al., 2017), and an estimated 28% to 75% of youth prematurely drop out of MH treatment. P</span>revious studies have reported that certain parent and family characteristics, such as single-parent families, lower socioeconomic status, and ethnic minority youth were more likely to prematurely drop out of treatment (e.g., Ambruster & Schwab-Stone, 1994; De Haan et al., 2013; Warnick et al., 2011). Some studies also indicated parents' perceived treatment barriers and motivation are known predictors of treatment dropout (e.g., De Haan et al., 2013; Haine-Schlagel et al., 2019). As parents are typically the primary drivers in youth MH treatment access, understanding how these factors relate to accessing youth MH services is critical in informing efforts to improve youth MH service utilization. This study aims to investigate how parents' perceived barriers and motivation to engage in youth MH treatment may vary based on sociodemographic factors, in a US community sample.

The Barriers to Treatment Participation Scale - Expectancies (BTPS-exp; Nanninga et al., 2016) was utilized to assess perceived treatment barriers in parents of children aged 5-18 years. It contains 44 items across four subscales: Stressors and Obstacles That Compete with Treatment, Treatment Demands and Issues, Perceived Irrelevance of Treatment, and Problematic Relationship with the Therapist. The Parent Motivation Inventory (PMI; Nock & Photos, 2006) is a 25-item self-report scale assessing parent motivation for participating in their child’s MH treatment.

The current study utilized a subset of a larger community sample who completed an online survey battery through Qualtrics, focusing on participants endorsing utilization of youth MH services (n = 202). To be inclusive of all family structures, ‘parents’ were any adult identifying as currently or formerly serving as caregivers of children aged 5-18 years. Average participant age was 44.3 years (SD = 12.7), and 57% identified as female. The sample was ethnically diverse (67% White, 13% Multiethnic, 12% Black or African American, and 11% Hispanic or Latino). 

Initial analyses of variance (ANOVAs) indicated that male parents reported more perceived barriers on three of four BTPS-exp subscales. Parents with a college degree (Bachelor's or higher) also reported more perceived barriers than those without a college degree (i.e., some college or less) on three of the four BTPS-exp subscales. There was no difference in parents’ motivation based on parent gender or education. Lastly, there was no significant relationship between parent marital status, ethnicity, or family income, and parents’ perceived barriers to treatment or motivation. To note, while parents’ expectations of treatment barriers varied across several sociodemographic variables, mean scores for motivation remained high across the community sample. This suggests that parents may be greatly motivated in accessing MH services for their children despite reporting varying levels of expectations for barriers to treatment. Implication of the findings will be discussed in the context of previous research.