Parental relations and referral of adolescents to Norwegian mental health clinics.
OBJECTIVE
Many youngsters with mental health problems are not referred to mental health clinics. Parents play an important role in the referral process of youngster to mental health clinics. The main aim of this study was to explore the role of the parent-child relation for referral of adolescents to outpatient psychiatric clinics.


METHODS
Employing a cross-sectional design, we compared a referred sample of 39 adolescents in outpatient psychiatric treatment with a non-referred matched control sample of 39 adolescents. The Parental Bonding Instrument and Youth Self-Report were employed to assess the characteristics of these two population groups.


RESULTS
Adolescents referred to Norwegian mental health clinics for mental health problems report more perceived care from mothers and a trend of more care from fathers compared with non-referred controls matched on level of mental health problems, age and gender. Implications of the finding for the role of parents on referral of adolescents to mental health clinics and for treatment compliance are discussed.
Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway, and University of Bergen, Norway. jhl@sus.no
Johannes H
JH
Langeveld
Pravin
P
Israel
Per Hove
PH
Thomsen
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009664:Norway; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric