The NIH has awarded millions of dollars in grants to multiple universities to study the “Mental Health Crisis in Latino Families.”
The project aims to “impact the mental health and overall well-being of queer Latinx and transgender youth,” as outlined on the University of Arizona’s website, It will be led by researchers from the University of Miami and the University of Tennessee. , University of Florida.
The project will allocate a total of $2.6 million to each university to advance research, with the University of Arizona receiving $1.5 million of the total grant funding.
At the University of Arizona, a professor at the Norton School of Human Ecology will lead research on the project. Professor Russell Toomey, who led the research, said:[f]Focuses on mental health and suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth. ”
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Toomey said the study will help fill a gap in research on LGBTQ youth, noting that “queer Latinx people often experience high rates of racial and ethnic discrimination.” , the researchers said.[W]Even if parents don’t fully embrace LGBTQ identity, it pays to consider cultural strengths, such as how Latinx families seem to maintain closer and stronger bonds. ”
“We want to better understand family dynamics and be able to design better culturally-based interventions that lead to improved mental health for the whole family,” Toomey added.
The study will be conducted over a total of five years and will also include “Latino families in Florida and Arizona.” The project builds on previous work the researchers have conducted on issues of LGBTQ acceptance and rejection among Latino parents.
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Researchers at the University of Arizona say,[P]The protective effects of kinship and cultural ties for Latino and immigrant youth. ”
“Using dyadic analysis allows us to examine these relationships from both directions,” said Professor Norma Pérez-Brena, adding, “Our measure shows that parental acceptance or rejection “It shows how it affects young people and how young people’s perceptions of LGBTQ people affect them.” Parents’ attitudes and support influence how they feel about the relationship. ”
The study is published on the University of Arizona’s website, which states that the findings will ultimately be used to “develop interventions that help Latino families accept and affirm LGBTQ youth.”
