UCLA

This study uses secondary data analysis of random digit dialed telephone interviews with 1,080 Black, Latino, and White parents living in two South Florida counties to test the predictive and mediating effects of parents’ religiosity in their willingness to medicate children with psychotropics for behavioral and emotional problems. Ordinary least squares multivariate regression was used to test if frequency of religious service attendance and congregational membership were associated with parents’ willingness to medicate children, and if these associations were moderated by parents’ race/ethnicity. A path analysis was used to test if congregational comfort mediated the association between parents’ race/ethnicity and their willingness to medicate children. Perceived benefits of psychotropics, perceived treatment stigma, and child’s use of psychotropics were entered as control variables in the analysis. Frequency of religious service attendance was not significantly associated with parents’ willingness to medicate children, and congregational comfort did not mediate the association between race/ethnicity and willingness to medicate children. Parents who have a congregation were significantly more likely to medicate their children compared to parents who do not have a congregation, but the association was not moderated by race/ethnicity. The findings provide some evidence for how congregations may influence parents with respect to mental health treatment willingness for children. Implications for the study of religiosity with respect to mental health, and its associated challenges, are discussed.