Mental health stigma is a significant obstacle for those with mental health issues in and from the Middle East, defined as the countries of southwest Asia and North Africa including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Such stigma may be passed down generationally; primary caregivers born in the Middle East who immigrate to the United States may pass down their beliefs and opinions of mental health to their children born in the U.S. This study examined the association between perceived primary caregiver mental health stigma and Middle Eastern emerging adults’ intention to seek mental help, while also examining the possible moderating effect of peer social support on this association. It was hypothesized that social support would mitigate the proposed negative association between a primary caregiver’s mental health self-stigma and their emerging adult child’s intention to seek mental health services. Results showed no significant association between perceived primary caregiver mental health stigma and an emerging adult’s intention to seek help, and no significant moderating effect of social support. However, findings showed a negative association between emerging adults’ mental health self-stigma and their help-seeking intention, as well as a positive association between prior counseling and help-seeking intention. Future implications of this research include bringing awareness to and addressing self-stigma in the Middle Eastern community, as well as providing education and training to those in the mental health field who may work with this population.

Despite the growing nonbinary population and their unique experiences, nonbinary people of color specific research remains scarce as most studies were done with predominantly white samples and failed to disaggregate transgender men and transgender women from nonbinary people. While parental acceptance and support (PAS) serve as protective factors for distal and proximal stressors-induced negative mental health outcomes among TNB youth, more research is needed to examine whether PAS play a role in nonbinary young adults of color’s mental health. Additionally, PAS may lead nonbinary young adults to internalize negative messages toward their gender identity, impacting mental health. This study aimed to examine whether PAS received by nonbinary young adults of color vary by race, whether PAS are associated with depression and suicidality, and whether these associations are mediated by internalized nonbinary negativity (INN) among nonbinary adults of color. Cross-sectional data from 174 nonbinary young adults of color were analyzed. Only parental support (PS) but not parental acceptance (PA) differed across racial groups. PAS were found to be negatively associated with depression and suicidality, but INN did not mediate the association between PS and negative mental health outcomes. Findings of this study reiterate the mental health disparities seen within the nonbinary community and serve as a call for attention to the effects of PAS in the lives of nonbinary young adults of color. Future research should inquire about the cultural values that influence PAS, ways to cultivate PAS among parents using existing cultural strengths, and the benefits of helping nonbinary young adults of color to maintain integral social support from parents.

Asian Americans are facing unprecedented and growing mental health issues brought by anti-Asian Racism and other forms of hyper-visible oppression (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). In response to racism, one potential solution for bolstering mental health outcomes among Asian Americans is critical reflection. Critical reflection is the process through which oppressed and marginalized people critically analyze oppressive social conditions (e.g., racism, sexism, and more) and consider actions they can take to change them (Watts et al., 2011). Recent research suggests that, overall, there is a strong link between critical reflection and the well-being of youth of color (Maker Castro et al., 2022). However, this relationship may vary based on additional factors, such as strategies used to cope with racism-related stress. For instance, Asian Americans with lower critical reflection about racism (e.g., as evidenced by endorsement of colorblind racial ideology, or the belief that racial differences are irrelevant and racism no longer exists) had a higher tendency to use avoidant coping mechanisms to deal with discrimination (Yi et al., 2022; Lewis et al., 2019). Additionally, there is other evidence to support that Asian Americans who held more colorblind racial attitudes experienced less anxiety when challenged with ambiguous discrimination compared to Asian Americans who held less colorblind racial attitudes (Lee, 2016). Overall, the literature suggests the importance of the relationship between critical reflection and mental health. However, studies have yet to quantitatively explore the impacts of critical reflection and strategies to cope with discrimination on mental health outcomes among Asian Americans (Spanierman et al., 2021) and young adults (Maker Castro et al., 2022). The current study seeks to address this gap in the literature by examining the role of strategies to cope with discrimination in the relationship between Asian Americans’ critical reflection and mental health outcomes. It is crucial to explore these factors as Asian American students continue to shoulder prejudice, stereotypes, and systemic racism in professional and educational institutions. We hypothesize that the relationship between critical reflection and mental health will be mediated by the strategies used to cope with discrimination. More specifically, we expect that low levels of critical reflection (as indicated by high levels of color-blind racial attitudes) are related to greater use of internalization, substance use, and detachment strategies to cope with discrimination, which is related to greater endorsement of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Data for this study were drawn from a larger study on college students’ experiences in ethnic studies courses. Participants were 288 Asian Americans recruited from ethnic studies courses at universities in various regions of the United States. During the first two weeks of their ethnic studies course, participants completed an online survey about their racial attitudes, critical consciousness, and psychological well-being. Mediation analyses will be conducted using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2022) on SPSS version 27. Critical reflection, as measured by participants’ total mean score on the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (Neville et al., 2000; Keum et al., 2018) will be included as the independent variable; subscale scores on the Coping with Discrimination Scale (Wei & Alvarez, 2010) will be mediators; and each subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Henry & Crawford, 2005) will be the dependent variable in separate analyses. Relationships between the study variables and Asian subgroup (i.e., East, Southeast, and South Asian) will also be examined. While analyses are currently ongoing, preliminary findings suggest that strategies to cope with discrimination and mental health outcomes vary between East Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Asians. Additionally, preliminary findings suggest that the use of substance use and detachment to cope with discrimination explains the relationship between low critical reflection and mental health outcomes. Findings have implications for encouraging mental health specialists and educators to have open conversations about racism while helping those who experience discrimination cope in healthy ways. Thus, this research can contribute to improved psychological well-being of Asian American young adults.