Jennifer Greif Green and Elizabeth Bettini, BU Wheelock faculty in special education, coauthored a new study, “Associations of Sociodemographic Factors and Psychiatric Disorders With Type of School-Based Mental Health Services Received by Youth” in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Green and Bettini’s study found that traditionally underserved students, specifically Black and Latino students, are more likely than their non-Latino white peers to receive mental health services in substantially separate classroom and school settings serving students with emotional and behavioral challenges.

They also found that Black and Latino youth were more likely than non-Latino white students to begin receiving mental health services in a substantially separate settings, rather than first receiving school counseling while remaining in general education settings. The study highlighted the need for policy and practice interventions focused on ensuring that traditionally minoritized students receive services in the least restrictive setting possible.

At BU Wheelock, both Green and Bettini are engaged in research focusing on supporting students with emotional/behavioral disorders. This study was conducted in collaboration with Ziming Xuan and Lana Le Tai of Boston University and with faculty at Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and NYU Langone Health.