Urban Latinx parents’ attitudes towards mental health: Mental health literacy and service use

•Urban, Latinx parents often have difficulty identifying mental health problems in their children.•Urban, Latinx parents who get help for their child’s mental health problems still report stigma about help-seeking.•Urban, Latinx parents often rely on informal sources of support related to their child’s mental health problems.•Urban, Latinx parents express a desire for more information about youth mental health problems. Latinx youth report elevated internalizing symptomatology as compared to their non-Latinx White counterparts and are less likely to access mental health care for these problems. This qualitative study examined the knowledge, beliefs and perceptions that Latinx parents (86% foreign-born; 66.7% monolingual Spanish speakers) living in urban communities have about mental health and service use for anxiety and depression in children. We used thematic analysis to analyze interview data from 15 Latinx parents who expressed concerns about their child’s (age 6–13) worry or sadness. Analyses revealed that Latinx parents often have difficulty identifying mental health problems, report stigma about mental health problems and help-seeking and want more information about how they can help their children. Although Latinx parents report significant mental health and treatment-seeking stigma, the majority were open to seeking mental health services for their children or were already receiving services. Findings suggest that stigma although prevalent, may not deter service utilization for some Latinx families. Implications for community health and future research are discussed.