title: Ethnic and gender disparities in needed adolescent mental health care.
abstract: Psychological problems are overlooked and undertreated in adolescents, especially in low-income and ethnically-diverse youth. School-based health centers are one way to increase health care utilization, and may be particularly important for accessing hard-to-reach populations. The present study examines adolescents' psychological health and their experiences with receiving needed mental health care. Participants included 1,695 African-American (31%), Hispanic (38%), and White (31%) high-school students in southeast Texas. All students were from the same high school and all had access to a school-based mental health clinic. Twenty six percent of the sample had symptoms indicative of major depression, and 18% had scores consistent with subthreshold depression. Across all ethnicities, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was highest among females. Depressed White students were more likely than depressed minority youth to report having received a prior diagnosis of depression and to have been treated for depression. Thus, ethnic disparities in obtaining needed mental health care may persist even in settings where access to equivalent care is readily available.
authors.affiliation: Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Community-based Mental Health Services and Policy, University of Texas Medical Branch Office of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs, Galveston, TX 77555-0981, USA. jofthoma@utmb.edu
authors.forename: John F Fred
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Jeff R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Temple
authors.forename: Noe
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rupp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult