title: Racial/ethnic disparities in children's emergency mental health after economic downturns.
abstract: African American children-more than other race/ethnicities-rely on emergency psychiatric care. One hypothesized cause of this overrepresentation involves heightened sensitivity to economic downturns. We test whether the African American/white difference in psychiatric emergency visits increases in months when the regional economy contracts. We applied time-series methods to California Medicaid claims (1999-2008; N = 7.1 million visits). One month following mass layoffs, African American youths use more emergency mental health services than do non-Hispanic whites. Economic downturns may provoke or uncover mental disorder especially among African American youth who by and large do not participate in the labor force.
authors: Program in Public Health & Department of Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA, tim.bruckner@uci.edu.
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Bruckner
authors: Yonsu
authors: Y
authors: Kim
authors: Lonnie
authors: L
authors: Snowden
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000191:economics; D057172:Economic Recession / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000191:economics* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult