https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732318795674 Qualitative Health Research 1–11 © The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1049732318795674 journals.sagepub.com/home/qhr Research Article Introduction The number of immigrant youth arriving to the United States has increased dramatically over the past two decades (Passel & Cohn, 2008). If the current pattern holds, it is estimated that by 2050, immigrant children and adolescents will make up one third of all youth in the United States (Passel, 2011). Currently, 58% of immigrant youth are of Latin American origin (Passel, 2011), reflect- ing the importance of attending to the unique experiences of Latino immigrant youth. Recent research has yielded important information about the various stressors that Latino immigrant youth confront in their everyday lives, including dislocated systems of social support, traumatic experiences, discrimination, poverty, and failed expecta- tions (Gómez & Castañeda, 2018; Gulbas & Zayas, 2015; Suarez-Orozco et al., 2010; Williams & Butler, 2003). Each of these challenges has important implications for the mental health and well-being of Latino immigrant youth, and research has suggested that Latino immigrant youth are at greater risk for the development of depressive and anxiety disorders compared with the general youth population (Potochnick & Perreira, 2010). The mental health and well-being of Latino immigrant youth depends greatly on the care they receive. In an effort to situate the everyday lives of immigrant youth, this article shifts attention from the experiences of youth to a focus on the providers who serve them. As Clevenger, Derr, Cadge, and Curran (2014) note, service providers are frequently “on the front lines” (p. 2) of facilitating the integration of immigrant youth into the broader sociocul- tural context. As they argue, “gaining a better understand- ing of how these providers view recent immigrants, sheds light on the logics behind. . .how they work with immi- grants” (Clevenger et al., 2014, p. 67). Some research has pointed to tensions between mental health practitioners and their immigrant clients around issues related to inter- cultural understanding (Ahn, Miller, Wang, & Laszloffy, 2014; Kirmayer, 2012; Kirmayer et al., 2011; Rastogi, Massey-Hastings, & Wieling, 2012). Given these ten- sions, many providers continue to advocate for the inclu- sion of cultural competency requirements in professional 795674QHR XX X 10.1177/1049732318795674Qualitative Health ResearchOlcońand Gulbas research-article 2018 1 University of Wollongong, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia 2 The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA Corresponding Author: Katarzyna Olcoń, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, South Western Sydney Campus, 33 Moore Street, Liverpool, NSW 2170, Australia. Email: kolcon@uow.edu.au “Because That’s the Culture”: Providers’ Perspectives on the Mental Health of Latino Immigrant Youth Katarzyna Olcoń 1 and Lauren E. Gulbas 2 Abstract Immigrant youth experience a combination of stressors, such as isolation and discrimination, that put them at a greater risk for negative mental health outcomes. Relying on interviews with 24 service providers who work with Latino immigrant youth, this article examines how they construct and intervene in the worlds of immigrant youth to improve youth’s mental health outcomes. Inductive thematic analysis revealed providers’ reliance on cultural interpretations of the psychosocial circumstances facing immigrant youth. Providers alternated between drawing on discourses that reproduced stereotypes, assumptions, and biases, while simultaneously striving to transcend sociocultural differences to focus on the lived experiences of their clients. Although providers acknowledged the importance of structural barriers, such as poverty and discrimination, they “bracketed” these issues when recommending interventions. The article highlights that as cultural competence increasingly becomes part of social services, this professional discourse may distract providers’ attention from more relevant targets of intervention. Keywords immigrant youth; Latino/Hispanic; mental health; service providers; cultural competency; Southern U.S.; qualitative methods; thematic analysis