FILE - Kimberly Carchipulla, right, and her son Damien, 5, center, wait for the bus on the way to school on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York.

Latino children in the US face a mental health crisis aggravated by cultural barriers and lack of resources, according to experts. Although their population continues to grow, many do not receive adequate support, making them more vulnerable to emotional and psychological problems.

Mental health in Latino children in the United States faces a crisis panorama. Cultural barriers, the search for identity and the lack of resources have increased young people’s risk of suffering psychological problems, according to experts.

“When it comes to Latino children we see that they are at higher risks for things like depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors or thoughts. So we know that if children in general are already in crisis, for Latino children we worry even more,” he told the Voice of America Ariana Hoet, clinical executive director of the Ohio-based Children’s Mental Health Foundation.

Only 7.95% of psychologists in the country are Hispanic, according to the American Psychological Association. However, only 5.5% of them say they can provide services in Spanish, which increases barriers for children.

Language would be essential to building a positive relationship with therapies, according to Hoet. A survey The Pew Research Center revealed that 44% of Hispanics say that challenges communicating with their health professionals are one of the biggest reasons they are exposed to less effective treatments.

Risk factors and the “immigrant paradox”

The risk factors are seen above all among children who were born in the US to Latino parents and those who had to migrate with their parents from their countries of origin.

For children born in the United States, Hoet explained, “they have a hard time finding identity… It is difficult enough when you are a child to find your place in this world and these children find themselves feeling like they are neither from here nor from there.” ”.

Added to this are the stigmas about mental health. Young Latinos are the less likely to seek mental health services compared to their white counterparts, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

An additional risk factor has been the focus of study for years by academics, who called it: the immigrant paradox. This states that children of immigrants are at greater risk of mental health problems due to the stress they suffer from immigration and prejudice in the host country.

“One expects that the person who migrates, who comes to the United States, is the one who is going to have the worst mental health and we have found that no, it is the children of immigrants who have the worst mental health and the worst physical health, So that’s why it’s called a paradox, because it’s something we don’t expect,” Hoet explained.

For children who have just arrived in the United States, language is key in adapting to the country. “If I am as a child developing my identity and now I am in a new community where they can give me messages that I am different, I am strange, I am not enough, they do not accept me, that is going to greatly impact the mental health of a child” , added the doctor.

Mental health treatments are confidential, Hoet stressed, therefore seeking help for minors is not a risk factor for undocumented families.

The pandemic significantly increased the risks of suffering from a mental health illness among minors. The Children’s Hospital Association estimates that 24% of Hispanic youth have had to shoulder a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities.

“10 years before the pandemic we already had statistics that showed us that mental health problems in children were increasing and the pandemic only made it worse,” Hoet said.

Prevention as a main tool

Mental health experts warn that it is important to think about prevention when talking about mental health, especially among Latinos.

“Many in the Latino community feel that mental health is something from the neighbor, something from someone else, there are no problems with my children, I am giving them everything I have to give them,” said Hoet. However, he invited parents to see this as physical health. “Just as we give them their vegetables and tell them, move your body and exercise, we have to teach them what to do to stay well in their mental health,” he added.

Hoet explained that in the case of Latin American culture, we must find support in the community, families and neighbors.

“Many times we arrive in the United States and think that we have to learn to be like those in the United States, speak their language, eat their food, act like them, but what we find in the research is that children who can have their two cultures and be Proud of their two cultures, they are the ones who do best with their mental health,” he said.

For this reason, the Children’s Mental Health Foundation seeks to offer resources in Spanish to Latino children in the US and facilitate psychological treatments in that language. “When we go to a clinic for our physical health it is very important that we understand when talking to doctors, it is the same with mental health,” Hoet said.

Although mental health problems tend to increase during adolescence, psychologists recommend parents be attentive to signs in their children’s behavior that indicate mental health problems.

“We know our children better than anyone when we notice a change in their behavior, we notice a change in their interests in how they are feeling on a day-to-day basis, that is where we start to think if it is something normal growing up or if it is something that bothers me. I should worry,” Hoet concluded.

These changes include constant sadness, anger, or worry that you cannot control, and that is repeated every day for a long period of time, behaviors that can affect your school or social life.