Our long term mission is to improve mental health therapy 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 therapy for stigmatized youth
Examples: effective gender-affirming care training methods, caregiver engagement skills
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Graphical abstract from our study on therapy experiences (click to expand)
Current Projects
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
- Price, M., Bokhour, E., Kaufman, G., Sheridan, M., Hollinsaid, N. L., & Olezeski, C. Therapy Experiences of Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents and Their Caregivers. [preprint PDF]
- Price, M., Hollinsaid, N., Skov, H., Bokhour, E., Kaufman, G., Sheridan, M., & Olezeski, C. (in preparation). A mixed methods examination of parental support and trauma exposure in a clinic-based sample of gender minority adolescents.
- 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]
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., McKetta, S., Weisz. J. R., Ford, J., Lattanner, M., Skov, H. , Wolock, E., & Hatzenbuehler, M. (revise and resubmit). Cultural sexism moderates efficacy of psychological therapy for girls: Results from a spatial meta-analysis. Preprint
- Price, M., Weisz, J., McKetta, S., Hollinsaid, N. L., Lattanner, M., Reid, A., & Hatzenbuehler, M.
(revise and resubmit). Are Psychotherapies Less Effective for Black Youth in Communities with
Higher Levels of Anti-Black Racism? Preprint
How Effective are Existing Therapies for Gender Minority 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 gender minority youth (i.e., in this study, youth who endorsed wanting to be the "opposite sex"). Compared to cisgender youth, gender minority 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 gender minority youth (i.e., in this study, youth who endorsed wanting to be the "opposite sex"). Compared to cisgender youth, gender minority 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., & 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]
Is Structural Transphobia Related to Depression for Transgender & Gender Diverse Youth?
We are about to launch a project supported by The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior to examine whether structural transphobia (i.e., laws and policies that inhibit the rights and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people) increases transgender & gender diverse youths' risk for depression using data from the CDC's Youth Risk and Behavior Survey.
We are about to launch a project supported by The Pershing Square Fund for Research on the Foundations of Human Behavior to examine whether structural transphobia (i.e., laws and policies that inhibit the rights and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people) increases transgender & gender diverse youths' risk for depression using data from the CDC's Youth Risk and Behavior Survey.