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Mental Health Disparities

(PS6-67) Evaluating the intersection of immigration status and sexual orientation on barriers to in-person mental health services among a Hispanic sample

Saturday, November 22, 2025
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM CST
Location: Elite Hall A, Level 1
Abstract Text: Mexican/Latinx immigrants are more likely to underutilize mental health services due to socioeconomic disadvantages, fear of legal issues, and concerns regarding cultural miscommunication (Rastogi et al., 2013). According to minority stress models (Meyer, 2003; Valetin-Cortes et al., 2020), barriers to mental health services may be exacerbated with the intersection of marginalized identities, specifically Latinx immigrants with sexual and gender minorities (Cerezo, 2016). This study tests the hypothesis that those who identify as Latinx immigrants and also identify as sexual and gender minorities will report greater barriers to mental health services than people who do not identify as 1st generation Latinx immigrants or with a sexual and gender minority.


Participants (N=204, Mage = 19.6, SDage = 3.3) were recruited from a large university and the surrounding community. All self-identified as “Hispanic” or were of “Hispanic descent” and spoke Spanish. Immigration status was divided into 2 factors- 2nd generation (born in the US) and 1st generation (born outside of the US). Sexual orientation was divided into 3 factors - heterosexual, lesbian/gay/bisexual, and other sexual minority identities.  All study materials were presented in Spanish. Participants completed a measure of barriers to in-person psychological services (Perez, Rech & Anderson, 2024) translated from the Perceived Barriers to Psychological Treatment Scale (Mohr et al, 2010). This measure included 8 subscales assessing both attitudinal barriers (stigma, lack of motivation, emotional concerns, negative views of therapy, misfit of therapy to needs) and practical barriers (time constraints, participant restrictions, availability of services, and cost). Higher scores reflect greater barriers.

A factorial ANOVA was used to evaluate the relationship between immigration status, sexual orientation, and perceived barriers to mental health resources. Type 3 sums of squares were used to account for the unbalanced sample sizes and order effects. Results showed a main effect of sexual orientation on two practical barriers to mental health services – availability of services (F (1,2) = 3.56) and time constraints of services (F (1,2) = 3.86) and one attitudinal barrier – lack of motivation (F (1,2) = 4.08). Post-hoc comparisons showed that, compared to heterosexual peers, participants categorized as identifying as “other sexual minorities” reported less motivation for services, and greater barriers related to the availability and the time constraints of services. There was no interaction effect between immigration status and sexual orientation, nor a main effect of immigration status.  

Hispanic individuals classified as ‘other sexual minorities’ reported greater barriers in accessing mental health care than their heterosexual peers. The use of digital tools may improve access to mental health services for this group, though future research is needed to determine how minority stress, discrimination, and acculturation may also impact the access of mental health resources for this population.