Exploring the relationship between race/ethnicity, age of first school-based services utilization, and age of first specialty mental health care for at-risk youth.
This study investigated race/ethnic variations in age of entry into school-based services and specialty mental health outpatient services among 1552 high-risk youths served in a publicly funded system of care. Non-Hispanic White youths were more likely to receive school-based services as compared to ethnic minority groups, and to begin use at an earlier age. In addition, the earlier a child was identified for school-based services, the earlier the child first utilized specialty outpatient mental health services. Multiple regression models showed that inclusion of race/ethnicity as a predictor significantly increased the overall variance explained in the model predicting age of first school-based services, and both race/ethnicity and first use of school-based services increased the overall variance explained in the model predicting age of first specialty mental health outpatient service use. The results suggest that involvement in school-based services may play an important role in facilitating specialty outpatient mental health service use for youths.
Wood
Patricia A
PA
Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children's Hospital, San Diego, California, USA. pwood@casrc.org
Yeh
May
M
Pan
David
D
Lambros
Katina M
KM
McCabe
Kristen M
KM
Hough
Richard L
RL
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*