Tucson Standard

University of Arizona researchers are set to investigate the influence of family support on the mental health and well-being of Latinx queer and transgender youth. This initiative is backed by a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, with $1.5 million allocated to the University of Arizona. Collaborating institutions include the University of Miami, University of Florida, and University of Tennessee.

Russell Toomey, a professor at the U of A Norton School of Human Ecology, will lead the project alongside Karina Gattamorta from the University of Miami and Roberto Abreu from the University of Florida. The research aims to fill gaps in existing studies on LGBTQ youth, which have largely focused on white, non-Latinx families.

"Queer Latinx folks often experience high rates of racial and ethnic discrimination," said Toomey. He emphasized the importance of understanding cultural strengths within Latinx families to design better interventions that improve mental health outcomes for entire families.

The five-year study will involve Latinx families in Florida and Arizona. Gattamorta highlighted the diversity within Latinx communities: "A lot of times in research, we tend to look at Latinx people like a monolith... An important part of this study is us being able to explore the role that those differences play in the acceptance process."

Building on prior research, this project seeks to develop tools that assess parental acceptance or rejection as perceived by Latinx LGBTQ youth. Abreu noted, "We've already developed a tool for the parents, and now we want to take the youth’s perspective into account."

Norma Perez-Brena will contribute her expertise in assessing family health implications using dyadic analysis. She explained that this approach provides a nuanced view of how family dynamics affect overall well-being.

Kirsten Gonzalez from the University of Tennessee stressed understanding parent-youth relationship dynamics: "It's really important because we need to understand whether parents have an accurate sense of how they're supporting their youth."

The ultimate goal is to create interventions that help Latinx families support LGBTQ youth. "We want to help families thrive," Toomey stated.