title: Psychotropic medication use in a national probability sample of children in the child welfare system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to estimate the point prevalence of psychotropic medication use, and to describe relationships between child-level characteristics, provider type, and medication use among children in the child welfare system.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being is the first nationally representative study of children coming into contact with the child welfare system. We used data from its baseline and 12-month follow-up waves, and conducted weighted bivariate analyses on a sample of 3114 children and adolescents, 87% of whom were residing in-home.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 13.5% of children in child welfare were taking psychotropic medications in 2001-2002. Older age, male gender, Caucasian race/ethnicity, history of physical abuse, public insurance, and borderline scores on the internalizing and externalizing subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist were associated with higher proportions of medication use. African-American and Latino ethnicities, and a history of neglect, were associated with lower proportions of medication use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These national estimates suggest that children in child welfare settings are receiving psychotropic medications at a rate between 2 and 3 times that of children treated in the community. This suggests a need to further understand the prescribing of psychotropic medications for child welfare children.
authors.affiliation: The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90064, USA. rraghavan@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raghavan
authors.forename: Bonnie T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Zima
authors.forename: Ronald M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Arleen A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Leibowitz
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landsverk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs