1-045 - Engaging Schools to Address Immigrant Youth Mental Health

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children in immigrant families represent the fastest growing group of youth in schools (Hernandez et al., 2008). These youth present with unique mental health needs (Williams & Butler, 2003) which have implications for academic achievement (Suárez-Orozco, 2010). Accordingly, school personnel must be aware of and prepared to address mental health concerns among immigrant youth (Gonzales, Eades, & Supple, 2014). However, as limited attention to date has been placed on schools’ roles in this area, it is imperative to increase our understanding of how schools can better meet the mental health needs of immigrant children and seek to engage schools in attending to the mental health needs of this underserved and growing population.

To this end, our symposium brings together perspectives from three unique geographic areas in the U.S to respond to this charge. With the goal of better understanding the impact of Senate Bill 1070, the first presentation examines the perspectives of teachers and school administrators on the needs of immigrant youth and families in Phoenix. The second presentation explores barriers to mental health help-seeking among urban Asian, immigrant youth, and provides student perspectives on how schools can better address the mental health needs of immigrant high school students. The third presentation examines the effectiveness, cultural feasibility, and acceptability of an adapted family-school partnership model with rural, Latino immigrant families. Finally, our discussant will draw from his extensive expertise on schooling, immigration, and mental health to summarize and integrate our findings and to make recommendations for future research and practice.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chairs

• Prerna Arora, Pace University

• Carmen Valdez, University of Wisconsin Madison

Discussant

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Schools’ Recognition and Response to Latino Students’ Experiences with Immigration Policy - Presenting Author: Carmen Valdez, University of Wisconsin Madison; Laura Minero, University of Wisconsin Madison; Elizabeth Martinez, University of Wisconsin Madison

• Barriers to Mental Health Help Seeking in Asian Immigrant Youth: Implications for School Practice - Presenting Author: Prerna Arora, Pace University; Alexa Algios, Pace University; Kevin Rustam, Pace University; Suchun Dong, Pace University

• Multimethod Study Adapting a Family-School Partnership Consultation Program (TAPP) for Latino Students and Parents - Presenting Author: Brandy L. Clarke, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Lorey A Wheeler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Susan M. Sheridan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Mackenzie Sommerhalder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Sonya Bhatia, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Amanda Witte, University of Nebraska-Lincoln