Current Projects
Examining Cultural and Contextual Determinants of Parental Mental Health Help-Seeking for Youth of Color
Prior research shows that parents’ help-seeking decisions are shaped by many complex cultural and contextual factors—including values, stigma, trust in health systems, and practical challenges like time and cost. However, we still don’t fully understand how these factors play out for families of color, and few studies have explored the differences between racial or ethnic groups or the specific stages parents go through when trying to access mental health care.
Funded by the Marquette University Psychology Research Advancement Award, our study aims to fill that gap by learning more about what affects how parents from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds recognize their child’s mental health needs, decide whether to seek help, and choose which services to use.
We have two main goals:
- First, to describe how parents from African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian American, and Native American communities understand and respond to their children’s mental health needs.
- Second, to explore what cultural and real-world factors influence each step of that process—from recognizing a problem to choosing a mental health provider to effectively participating in treatment.
The findings from this study will help us create better, more culturally responsive ways to support parents and improve access to mental health care for all youth. Ultimately, we hope this work contributes to reducing the mental health care gap and ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive.
Supporting Student Success via Mental Health Care: An Examination of Academic and Socioemotional Outcomes
Schools offer an unequalled access point for child engagement in mental health services, particularly for marginalized populations who have difficulty engaging in traditional services. Research is needed to investigate how different MH service models impact child outcomes, including the potential benefit of specifically supporting families with services via school.
In partnership with collaborators at Marquette University and Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, this project is examining a school-centered service delivery model in which a co-located therapist provides MH services to students at school and a family coach provides community-based services to the caregivers.
Past Projects
Knowledge is Power: Understanding Parents’ Mental Health Literacy to Improve Help-seeking for Youth Mental Health Issues
Given that parents are primarily responsible for seeking treatment on behalf of children, efforts are needed to evaluate whether parents have the knowledge and skills necessary to identify their child’s mental health problem and seek out evidence-based care. Prior research shows that these abilities, known as mental health literacy (MHL), influence help-seeking behaviors in adults. This two-phase project investigates parents’ MHL specific to child issues and explores ways in which parental knowledge can be corrected and expanded to increase mental health service utilization for youth.
In Phase I, over 300 parents completed an online survey assessing 1) their ability to identify childhood mental health issues and recognize evidence-based treatment options, 2) actual and preferred sources of information about child mental health, and 3) help-seeking attitudes, stigmatization, and intentions. Phase II used a mixed methods design to explore ways to increase parents’ MHL. Fifteen local Milwaukee parents completed surveys and participated in qualitative interviews assessing general perspectives about child mental health and the perceived need for and feasibility of an intervention to increase parents’ MHL, including factors that would increase acceptability and effectiveness. Data analysis is ongoing. Findings from this study will be used to design programming that will empower parents as informed consumers of child mental health services toward the ultimate goal of reducing current rates of unmet child mental health needs.
LEADRS: Leaders for Engagement, Accessibility, Diversity and Responsive Services
LEADRS is a collaboration with colleagues at Marquette University, SSAIL Center, and Taylor-Made Strategies. We are group committed to building behavioral health leadership in the communities that need it the most. Ultimately, our goal is to improve the quality and accessibility of behavioral health services for marginalized and underserved populations, particularly those with disabilities and mental health issues.
LEADRS was initially supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to develop, deliver, and evaluate a comprehensive training in culturally responsive service provision and training for Wisconsin-based community behavioral health providers, students, and faculty in behavioral health training programs. The CARE lab served as the research and evaluation core for this project.
For more information about the LEADRS initiative moving forward please visit https://www.theleadrs.org/
Parents’ Mental Health Help-seeking Behaviors and Preferences for Youth
Data was collected from over 450 diverse parents from across the United States regarding their perspectives on youth mental health problems and their treatment including expected barriers to treatment participation, preferences related to mental health services (e.g., location, provider characteristics), and factors that might impact parents’ mental health help-seeking behaviors for youth, including child and parent symptomatology, parenting stress, stigma about help-seeking, and beliefs about the causes of youth mental health problems.
Selected PUBLICATIONS
(* = Graduate student; ψ= Undergraduate student)
Holly, L.E., *Buchanan, M., & *Bowling, A. (2025). Predicting parents’ perspectives on help-seeking for youth mental health problems: The role of clinical characteristics. Evidence-based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Advance online publication.https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2025.2609998.
*Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2025). Understanding parents’ beliefs about the etiology of youth mental health problems: Differences across race/ethnicity. Journal of Child and Family Studies. Online First Publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-025-03097-w
*Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2025). A Systematic Review of Parents’ Mental Health Literacy Programs: Examining Program Effectiveness and Parent Satisfaction. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. Online First Publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-025-01836-0
Holly, L.E. (2024). Cultural and Social Aspects of Anxiety Disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2024.04.017
Holly, L.E., *Buchanan, M., & *Bowling, A.B., (2024). Parental Burnout and Emotion Regulation in Context: Considerations for Science and Practice. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 31(1), 113–116. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000200
Pina, A.A., Stoll, R.D., Holly, L.E., Wynne, H., Chiapa, A., Parker, J., Caterino,L., Tracy, S.J., Gonzales, N.A., Tein, J.Y., & Valdivieso, A. (2023). Streamlined Pediatric Anxiety Program for School Mental Health Services. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102655
Ivanova, M.Y., Hall, A., Buckingham, C., Copeland, W., Crockett, P., D’Alberto, C., Dainer-Best, J., Dewey, L., Flanders, N., Forest, D., Galano, M., Goodrich, L., Holly, L.E., Leahey, M., Lerner, M., Marsh, J., McGinnis, E., Paiva-Salisbury, M,. Shaw, J., Tinker, R., Swift, P., Weinberger, S., & Hudziak, J. (2022). The Vermont Family Based Approach in primary care pediatrics: Effects on children’s and parents’ psychopathology and parents’ health-related quality of life. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01329-4
Langer, D.A., Holly, L.E., Wills, C.E., Tompson, M.C., & Chorpita, B. (2022). Personalizing treatment through shared decision-making for youth psychotherapy: A randomized clinical trial on facilitating personalized treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(1), 29-38. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000702 NOTE: Featured in Special Section on Evidence-Based Tailoring of Treatment to Patients, Providers, and/or Processes.
Kaugars, A.S., Holly, L.E., *Tait, M., & Oswald, D. (2022). Exploring American parents’ lived experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic: Ramifications for well-being. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(2), 135-147. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsab120
*Chevalier, L.L., *O’Connor, E.E., Holly, L.E., Langer, D.A., & Pincus, D. B. (2021). The relationship between parental sleep accommodation and sleep-related problems in children with anxiety. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 42(2), 114-121. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000871
Pina, A.A., Gonzales, N.A., Mazza, G.L., Gunn, H.J., Holly, L. E., Stoll, R., Parker, J., Chiapa, A., Wynne, H., & Tein, J. (2020). Streamlined prevention and early intervention for pediatric anxiety disorders: A randomized controlled trial. Prevention Science, 21(4), 487-497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01066-6
*O’Connor, E.E., Holly, L.E., *Chevalier, L.L., Langer, D.A., & Pincus, D. B. (2020). Parent and child emotion and distress responses associated with parental accommodation of child anxiety symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 76(7), 1390-1407. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22941
Mahrer, N.E., Holly, L.E., Wolchick, S.A., Lueken, L.J., & Fabricius, W. (2019). Parenting style, familism, and youth adjustment in Mexican American and European American families. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50(5), 659-675. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119839153
Holly, L.E. *Fenley, A., *Kritikos, T., Merson, R., Abidin, R.R, & Langer, D.A. (2019). Evidence base update for parenting stress measures in clinical samples. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 48(5), 685-705. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2019.1639515 NOTE: INVITED ARTICLE for the Evidence Based Assessment Updates series.
*Clementi, M.A., Alfano, C.A., Holly, L. E., & Pina, A.A. (2016). Sleep-related outcomes following early intervention for childhood anxiety. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(11), 3270–3277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0478-6
Holly, L. E. & Pina, A. A. (2015). Variations in the influence of parental socialization of child anxiety among clinic referred children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 46(3), 474-484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0487-x
Holly, L. E., Little, M., Pina, A. A., & Caterino, L.C. (2015). Assessment of anxiety symptoms in school children: A cross-sex and ethnic examination. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(2), 297-309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9907-4
Pina, A.A. Holly, L. E., Zerr, A., & Rivera, D. (2014). A personalized and control systems engineering conceptual approach to target childhood anxiety in the contexts of cultural diversity. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 43(3), 442-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2014.888667
Recent PResentations
(* = Graduate student; ψ= Undergraduate student)
*Buchanan, M.J., *Bivins, E.J., & Holly, L.E., (2025, June). Parental mental health literacy: A target for promoting help-seeking for youth. [Poster Abstract]. Presented at the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 2025 Conference, Chicago, IL.
*Bowling, A.R. & Holly, L.E., (2025, June). From need perception to service utilization: Factors influencing parents’ help-seeking for youth. [Poster Abstract]. Presented at the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 2025 Conference, Chicago, IL.
*Bivins, E.J. & Holly, L.E., (2025, June). Cognitive Predictors of help-seeking intentions among parents: Exploring racial/ethnic variations. [Poster Abstract]. Presented at the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 2025 Conference, Chicago, IL.
Taylor, A.S., Holly, L.E., *Bowling, A., *Buchanan, M., & Todd, C., McNutt, C., Hood, S., and D’Anna-Hernandez, K. (2025, May 21-24). Intersectionality at Work: Tackling Bias and Building Community in Behavioral Health [Conference symposium]. EAWOP 2025 Convention, Prague, Czech Republic.
*Bivins, E.J., *Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2025, April). Mental health literacy among parents: A promising target for early intervention efforts. [Poster Abstract]. Presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America 2025 Conference, Las Vegas, NV.
ΨSmith, E.C., & Holly, L.E. (2025, April). Understanding Parents’ Self-Stigma: Exploring Associations with Sociodemographic Factors and Mental Health Literacy [Poster presentation].Wisconsin Psychological Association Annual Convention, Lake Geneva, WI. NOTE: This Poster was the Recipient of Undergraduate Student Research Poster Award (2nd place) from the Wisconsin Psychological Association.
Taylor, A.S., Grier, M., *Bowling, A., Holly, L.E., *Buchanan, M., & *Todd, C., McNutt, C., Hood, S., and D’Anna-Hernandez, K. (2024, June 21-23). Leading with Curiosity, Compassion, Commitment, and Courage: In Pursuit of Culturally Responsive and Affirming Leadership in Behavioural Health Education and Practice through Evidence-Based Professional Training[Conference presentation]. Canadian Psychological Association 2024 Convention, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
ψPaslaski, C. & Holly, L.E. (2023, May) Parents’ Beliefs About Trauma as a Cause of Child Mental Health Issues: Implications for Help-Seeking. [Poster presentation]. Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
Bowling, A.R., *Buchanan, M.J., & Holly, L.E. (2022, Dec). Diverse parents’ perspectives on the importance of cultural sensitivity in child mental health professionals. [Poster presentation]. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum, Virtual.
*Buchanan, M.J., *Bowling, A. R., Holly, L.E., (2022, August). Parental Perspectives on Mental Health Help-Seeking for Youth: Exploring Family Service Use History. [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Minneapolis, MN.
ΨKarpinksy, M., ΨWood, N., *Buchanan, M., *Bowling, A., & Holly, L.E. (2022, August). Understanding parents’ expected barriers to youth treatment: The role of parent and family factors [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Convention, Minneapolis, MN. NOTE: This Poster was the recipient of the Undergraduate Research Poster Award by the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (Division 53 of APA)
ψPaslaski, C., ψJacobson, K., ψMaya, J., *Bowling, A., *Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2022, Nov). Examining the Influence of Mental Health Literacy and Self-Shame on Parental Self-Efficacy for Addressing Child Mental Health Problems [Poster presentation]. A Celebration of Research Poster Session, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ψJacobson, K., ψMaya, J., ψPaslaski, C., *Buchanan, M., *Bowling, A., & Holly, L.E. (2022, Nov). Exploring the Association between Parents’ Knowledge about Mental Health Symptom Type and Help-Seeking Stigma [Poster presentation]. A Celebration of Research Poster Session, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ψWood, N., ψJacobson, K., ψMaya, J., *Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2022, May). Assessing Stigma Towards Mental Health Service Use among Parents of Children with Clinically Significant Externalizing vs. Internalizing Symptoms [Poster presentation]. Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. NOTE: This presentation was the Nash Memorial Award for Outstanding Use of Statistics by a Psychology Undergraduate student ($100)
ψMaya, J., ψWood, N., *Buchanan, M., & Holly, L.E. (2022, May) Exploring Parental Substance Use across Child Mental Health Symptom Type [Poster presentation]. Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ψPaslaski, C., ψJacobson, K., ψKarpinsky, M., *Bowling, A., & Holly, L. E. (2022, May). Gender Differences in Parents’ Help-Seeking Attitudes Toward Mental Health Services and Professionals [Poster presentation].Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ψKarpinsky, M., ψJacobson, K., ψPaslaski, C., *Bowling, A., & Holly, L.E., (2022, May). Understanding Parental Perspectives on Child Mental Health Treatment: Associations Between Parents’ Education Level, Treatment Attitudes, and Provider Preferences [Poster presentation]. Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ψJacobson, K., ψPaslaski, C., ψKarpinsky, M., *Bowling, A., *Buchanan, M., & Holly, L. E. (2022, May). Examining Parental Perspectives on Child Mental Health: Etiological Beliefs and Stigmatization [Poster presentation].Annual Undergraduate Psychology Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
*Bowling, A.R., *Buchanan, M.J, *Sheehan, P., *Aaron, S., *Guzek, I., Holly, L.E., Jenks, S., & Saunders, S. (2021, November). Developing a church-based mental wellness program that meets the needs of underserved congregations. Project presented at Forward Thinking Research Symposium, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. NOTE: This presentation was the Forward Thinking Research Award for being one of the highest-ranking projects at the event.
*Bowling, A.R., Holly, L.E., & *Buchanan, M.J. (2021, November). Perspectives on help-seeking for youth mental health issues: The influence of parents’ religiosity [Poster presentation]. Celebration of Research in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
ΨKarpinsky, M., ΨWood, N., *Buchanan, M.J., *Bowling, A. R., & Holly, L.E. (2021, November). Predicting parents’ expected barriers to participation in mental health treatment for youth: The role of parenting stress and family income [Poster presentation].Celebration of Research in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
*Buchanan, M.J. & Holly, L.E. (2021, November). Describing Parents’ Beliefs about the Causes of Child Mental Health Issues: Differences across Race/Ethnicity [Poster presentation]. Celebration of Research in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
Holly, L.E., Kaugars, A., *Tait, M., & Oswald, D. (2021, August). The Diversity of American Parents Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact on Well-being [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Association Convention, Virtual.
Holly, L.E., Kaugars, A., *Tait, M., & Oswald, D. (2021, October). The Diversity of Experiences of American Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact on Well-Being [Poster presentation]. Marquette University’s 12th Annual Diversity in Psychology Research Conference, Milwaukee, WI.
*Buchanan, M.J. & Holly, L.E. (2021, October). Describing Parents’ Beliefs about the Causes of Child Mental Health Issues: Differences across Race/Ethnicity [Poster presentation]. Marquette University’s 12th Annual Diversity in Psychology Research Conference, Milwaukee, WI. NOTE: This poster was the recipient of a “Best Poster” award at this conference.
*Buchanan, M.J. & Holly, L.E. (2021, April). Exploring parental beliefs about the causes of child mental health problems: Implications for help-seeking [Poster presentation]. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum, Washington, DC.
Kaugars, A., Holly, L.E., Oswald, D., & *Tait, M. (2020, November). The diversity of parents’ lived experiences during COVID-19: Ramifications for well-being [Poster presentation]. Virtual Celebration of Research in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.
*Buchanan, M.J., ΨBohn, M., ΨZendejas, V., *Malkoff, A.C., & Holly, L.E. (2020, October). Empowering community voices to re-design mental health services for culturally diverse children and families of color [Poster presentation]. Marquette University’s Forward Thinking Virtual Poster Session, Milwaukee, WI. NOTE: This Poster was the Recipient of the Jump Start Award for being one of the highest-ranking posters at the session.
O’Brien, K., Holly, L.E., & Holland, K. (2020, October). Beloved Community: A Partnership Model for Training in Early Childhood Mental Health. Wisconsin Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Conference (Virtual), Milwaukee, WI.
