Our long term mission is to improve support for stigmatized youth. To accomplish this, we conduct research in 3 domains.
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(1) Identify the unique experiences of youth with 1+ stigmatized identities
Examples: discrimination, bullying, supportive caregiver experiences
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(2) Determine how stigmatized youth's unique experiences affect their mental health + wellbeing
Examples: internalized transphobia, social isolation
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(3) Identify methods of improving care for stigmatized youth
Examples: effective gender-affirming care training methods, caregiver engagement skills
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Current Studies
How Can Therapists Better Support Transgender Youth?
Gender-Affirming Psychotherapy Study (GAPS)
Transgender youth often struggle to find therapists who understand their specific needs and provide adequate support. With grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Foundation, and Boston College, we will create a virtual training to teach therapists how to best serve transgender youth based on input from transgender youth, their caregivers, and mental health provider experts. In other words, our training will help close some of the “GAPS” in therapists’ training so that they can better support transgender youth! Read more about this project here.
Gender-Affirming Psychotherapy Study (GAPS)
Transgender youth often struggle to find therapists who understand their specific needs and provide adequate support. With grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Foundation, and Boston College, we will create a virtual training to teach therapists how to best serve transgender youth based on input from transgender youth, their caregivers, and mental health provider experts. In other words, our training will help close some of the “GAPS” in therapists’ training so that they can better support transgender youth! Read more about this project here.
How Can High School Staff Better Support Transgender Students?
Improving Methods of Providing Affirming Care to Transgender Students (IMPACTS)
Transgender students face discrimination and other difficulties at school, and school staff often lack the necessary resources and knowledge to adequately support transgender students. With funding from Boston College School of Social Work Center for Social Innovation and the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, we will create an online high school staff training program based on ideas from transgender students, their parents, and school staff experts. We are hopeful that this study positively “IMPACTS” the lives of transgender students!
Improving Methods of Providing Affirming Care to Transgender Students (IMPACTS)
Transgender students face discrimination and other difficulties at school, and school staff often lack the necessary resources and knowledge to adequately support transgender students. With funding from Boston College School of Social Work Center for Social Innovation and the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, we will create an online high school staff training program based on ideas from transgender students, their parents, and school staff experts. We are hopeful that this study positively “IMPACTS” the lives of transgender students!
Is Structural Transphobia Related to Depression & Suicidality for Transgender Youth?
With support from The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior we examined whether structural transphobia (i.e., norms, laws & policies that inhibit the rights and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people) increases transgender & gender diverse youths' risk for depression and suicidality using data from the CDC's Youth Risk and Behavior Survey. Our results (being written up now!) suggest that structural transphobia confers additional risk for trauma-exposed transgender youth (read more here!).
With support from The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior we examined whether structural transphobia (i.e., norms, laws & policies that inhibit the rights and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people) increases transgender & gender diverse youths' risk for depression and suicidality using data from the CDC's Youth Risk and Behavior Survey. Our results (being written up now!) suggest that structural transphobia confers additional risk for trauma-exposed transgender youth (read more here!).
Recently Completed Studies
Is Psychotherapy Less Effective for Stigmatized Youth (Girls & Black youth) in Places with High Structural Stigma?
Using a meta-analytic database of over 50 years of youth psychotherapy RCTs from Dr. John Weisz's Youth Mental Health Lab, we teamed with Dr. Mark Hatzenbuehler's BEST lab to examine the impact of structural stigma (specifically, community-level cultural attitudes about gender, and separately, about race) on psychotherapy effectiveness for girls and Black youth. We found that treatment efficacy for these groups was significantly lower in communities with high levels of structural stigma. Check out our preprints below!
Papers
Using a meta-analytic database of over 50 years of youth psychotherapy RCTs from Dr. John Weisz's Youth Mental Health Lab, we teamed with Dr. Mark Hatzenbuehler's BEST lab to examine the impact of structural stigma (specifically, community-level cultural attitudes about gender, and separately, about race) on psychotherapy effectiveness for girls and Black youth. We found that treatment efficacy for these groups was significantly lower in communities with high levels of structural stigma. Check out our preprints below!
Papers
- Price, M., Weisz, J., McKetta, S., Hollinsaid, N. L., Lattanner, M., Reid, A., & Hatzenbuehler, M. (provisional acceptance). Are psychotherapies less effective for Black youth in communities with higher Levels of anti-Black racism? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. [Preprint]
- Price, M., McKetta, S., Weisz, J. R., Ford, J., Lattanner, M., Skov, H., Wolock, E., & Hatzenbuehler, M. (in press). Cultural sexism moderates efficacy of psychotherapy: Results from a spatial meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. [Preprint]
- Price, M. A., McKetta, S., Weisz, J. R., Hollinsaid, N. L., Skov, H. E., Ford, J., Wolock, E., Lattanner, M., Reid, A. E., & Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2021). Structural stigma moderates treatment efficacy for girls and Black youth: Results from two spatial meta-analyses. Oral paper presentation accepted for symposium on "Does stigma moderate the efficacy of mental health interventions among marginalized groups? A multi-group, multi-level perspective" at the annual convention of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New Orleans, LA.
- Price, M. (2021). Psychotherapies are less effective for girls living in communities with high cultural sexism. Presentation at the 53rd annual meeting of the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health (online).
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz., J. R., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., McKetta, S., & Price, M. A. (2021). Is state-level anti-Black cultural racism associated with Black youth’s mental health? Poster presented at the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum, Washington, DC. [Poster]
Graphical abstract from our study on therapy experiences (click to expand)
What Kinds of Supportive and Adverse Experiences are Transgender & Gender Diverse Youth Experiencing?
With support from the The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior, we are collaborating with the Yale Gender Center to analyze clinical interview and survey data from trans/non-binary youths and their caregivers to identify: (a) their experiences of adversity within and outside of therapy, (b) their supportive and unsupportive experiences with caregivers, and (c) the impact of those experiences on depression and anxiety.
Papers
With support from the The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior, we are collaborating with the Yale Gender Center to analyze clinical interview and survey data from trans/non-binary youths and their caregivers to identify: (a) their experiences of adversity within and outside of therapy, (b) their supportive and unsupportive experiences with caregivers, and (c) the impact of those experiences on depression and anxiety.
Papers
- Price, M. A., Bokhour, E. J., Hollinsaid, N. L., Kaufman, G., Sheridan, M., & Olezeski, C. (revise and resubmit). Therapy experiences of transgender and gender diverse adolescents and their caregivers. [Preprint]
- Price, M. A., Hollinsaid, N. L., Bokhour, E. J., Johnston, C., Kaufman, G. W., Sheridan, M., Skov, H. E., & Olezeski, C. (revise and resubmit). Transgender and gender diverse youth's experiences of gender-related adversity. [Preprint]
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Kaufman, G., Bokhour, E., Olezeski, C., & Price, M. A. (2020). A qualitative analysis of adverse childhood experiences in gender minority adolescents. Poster presentation for the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington DC. [Received poster award from the Section for LGBTQ Issues, Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17)]. [Poster PDF]
- Price, M. A., Bokhour, E., Kaufman, G., Sheridan, M., & Hollinsaid, N. L. (2020, April). The therapy experiences of gender minority youths and their caregivers. Oral presentation at the Boston Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health, Endocrinology, Urology (BE-U) and Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) clinical research team meeting, Boston, MA.
- Price, M., Hollinsaid, N., Bokhour, E. , Kaufman, G. , Sheridan, M. , Menary, W., & Olezeski, C. (2020). Gender minority youths’ experiences in mental health treatment. Oral paper presentation at the American Psychological Association Convention, Washington, D.C. [video]
How Effective are Existing Therapies for Transgender Youth?
Using data from four prior randomized controlled trials of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) for youth, we compared the effectiveness and acceptability of these therapies across cisgender and transgender youth (i.e., in this study, youth who endorsed wanting to be the "opposite sex"). Compared to cisgender youth, transgender youth reported more severe mental health problems before treatment, demonstrated slower improvement in some of these problems, and were less satisfied with treatment. Our findings underscore the need for gender-affirming enhancements to existing therapies, including provider-trainings in gender-affirming care.
Papers
Using data from four prior randomized controlled trials of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) for youth, we compared the effectiveness and acceptability of these therapies across cisgender and transgender youth (i.e., in this study, youth who endorsed wanting to be the "opposite sex"). Compared to cisgender youth, transgender youth reported more severe mental health problems before treatment, demonstrated slower improvement in some of these problems, and were less satisfied with treatment. Our findings underscore the need for gender-affirming enhancements to existing therapies, including provider-trainings in gender-affirming care.
Papers
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Skov, H. E., the Research Network on Youth Mental Health, & Price, M. A. (2020). The effectiveness and acceptability of empirically supported treatments in gender minority youth across four randomized controlled trials. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(12), 1053-1064. [PDF]
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Skov, H. E., & Price, M. A. (2021). The effectiveness and acceptability of empirically supported treatments with gender minority youth across four randomized controlled trials. Oral paper presentation accepted for symposium "Does stigma moderate the efficacy of mental health interventions among marginalized groups? A multi-group, multi-level perspective" at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Washington, DC.
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Skov, H. E., & Price, M. A. (2021). The effectiveness and acceptability of empirically supported treatments with gender minority youth. Poster presented at the Journal for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum, Washington, DC. [Poster]
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Skov, H. E., & Price, M. A. (2021). Empirically-supported psychotherapy effectiveness and acceptability for gender minority youth. Oral paper presentation at the monthly meeting of the Boston Children's Hospital Behavioral Health, Endocrinology, Urology (BE-U) and Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) clinical research team, Boston, MA.
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., & Price, M. A. (2019). The effectiveness and acceptability of evidence-based practices for gender minority youth. Poster presented at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Atlanta, GA. [Poster PDF]
- Hollinsaid, N. L., Weisz, J. R., & Price, M. A. (2019). An intersectional examination of identity-based disparities in the mental health symptomatology of clinically-referred youth. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. [Poster PDF]