Rates of mental health disorders are high among US minority adolescents, especially in California where African American adolescents have the highest mental health disorders among any other race/ethnicity. Furthermore, African American adolescents utilize mental health services at much lower rates compared to their White counterparts. African American adolescents not utilizing mental health services may be influenced by their parents’ unwillingness to seek mental health services for them. The purpose of the study was to explore factors that are correlated with the utilization of mental health services for children among foreign-born African immigrant parents in the United States.

 

A convenience sample of 104 foreign-born African immigrant parents was recruited from predominantly African churches and community centers in Southern California. A self-administered, four-page survey questionnaire based on the Parental Attitudes Toward Psychological Services Inventory (PATPSI) was used to measure foreign-born African immigrant parents’ attitudes toward using mental health services for children. Results showed that there was a statistical significance between the relationship of the length of stay in the US and parents’ attitudes toward using mental health services for children (r(90) = .22, p < .05).

Keywords: Adolescents, Children Mental Health, African Immigrants, Parents’ Attitudes toward Mental Health Services