Unmet Need for Mental Health Care Among U.S. Children: Variation by Ethnicity and Insurance Status

Top Cited Papers
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Policy discussions regarding the mental health needs of children and adolescents emphasize a lack of use of mental health services among youth, but few national estimates are available. The authors use three national data sets and examine ethnic disparities in unmet need (defined as having a need for mental health evaluation but not using any services in a 1-year period) to provide such estimates. METHOD: The authors conducted secondary data analyses in three nationally representative household surveys fielded in 1996–1998: the National Health Interview Survey, the National Survey of American Families, and the Community Tracking Survey. They determined rates of mental health service use by children and adolescents 3–17 years of age and differences by ethnicity and insurance status. Among the children defined as in need of mental health services, defined by an estimator of mental health problems (selected items from the Child Behavior Checklist), they examined the association of unmet need with ...