The NIH has awarded multiple universities millions of dollars to study the “LatinX family mental health crisis.”
The project, aimed to “impact the mental health and overall wellbeing of Latinx queer and transgender youth,” as outlined on The University of Arizona’s website, will be led by researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of Miami, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Florida.
In total, the project will distribute $2.6 million to the universities to advance the study, with the University of Arizona receiving $1.5 million of the grant’s total funding.
At the University of Arizona, a professor in the Norton School of Human Ecology will lead the project’s research. Professor Russell Toomey, the professor leading the research, is stated as having “[f]ocused on mental health and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youths.”
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Saying that the research will benefit gaps in research on LGBTQ youths, Toomey stated that “Queer Latinx folks often experience high rates of racial and ethnic discrimination,” and that the researchers “[W]ant to consider cultural strengths, like the ways in which Latinx families appear to maintain closer, stronger bonds, even when parents might not fully embrace LGBTQ identities.”
“We want to better understand those family dynamics so we can design better, culturally-informed interventions that translate to better mental health for whole families,” Toomey added.
In total, the research will be conducted over five years, and will include “Latinx families in Florida and Arizona.” The project builds on previous work that researchers have conducted on issues of LGBTQ acceptance and rejection within Latinx parents.
Researchers at the University of Arizona will also be aided by an associate professor in the Norton School of Human Ecology who studies the “[P]rotective effects of close family and cultural bonds for Latinx and immigrant adolescents.”
Professor Norma Perez-Brena stated that by “Using dyadic analysis, we will be able to examine these relationships form both directions,” and “Our scale will show both how the parent’s acceptance or rejection impacts the LGBTQ youth and how the youth’s perception of their parent’s attitudes and support impacts how the parent feels about the relationship.”
The study is stated on the University of Arizona’s website to ultimately use the findings to “develop interventions that will support Latinx families in embracing and affirming LGBTQ youth.”
