Asian American Parents’ Beliefs About Helpful Strategies for Addressing Adolescent Mental Health Concerns at Home and School

Asian American adolescents tend to underutilize mental health services at school and often do not receive the mental health services they need. Parents play an important role in youth mental health service utilization. However, few studies have examined Asian American parents’ knowledge and beliefs about the help-seeking process. The present qualitative study explores Asian American parents’ beliefs about helpful strategies for addressing youth mental illness (i.e., depression and eating disorders) with special attention to school-based strategies. Nineteen Asian American parents (M = 46.05 years, SD = 4.2) completed a semi-structured interview. The interviews were coded for themes to understand Asian American parents’ beliefs about helpful strategies for addressing youth mental illness. Four general themes relating to ways of addressing youth mental health concerns emerged: providing social support, teaching and educating about mental health, seeking professional help, and identifying the problem and finding the cause. The roles that the school and culture play in each of these strategies are discussed. Implications are given for school-based mental health providers based on the finding.