title: English Proficiency, Threshold Language Policy and Mental Health Service Utilization among Asian-American Children.
abstract: This paper explores the role of English proficiency, ethnicity, and California's threshold language policy in the rates of discontinuing mental health services among Asian-American children. We used data from the 2001-2006 Client and Services Information (CSI) System, which contains county-level information about service users in public mental health systems. Our data included 59,218 service users under the age of 18. We used logistic regression to determine the likelihood of discontinuing services, while controlling for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. English-speaking Asians were 11% more likely than English-speaking Whites to discontinue mental health services. Non-English-speaking Asians were 50% significantly more likely to stay in services. The results also revealed some inter-ethnic variations in the discontinuation patterns; however, the patterns of mental health service utilization appear to be driven by the availability of mental health services in Asian-ethnic languages in county of residence. Further research is needed to understand the intake and referral processes that Asian children go through within the mental health service system.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, National Center for Children in Poverty, New York, NY. Electronic address: ya61@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aratani
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Electronic address: cliu@bidmc.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Cindy H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*