Psychiatric Disorder, Impairment, and Service Use in Rural African American and White Youth

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Abstract
LITTLE IS known about the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and access to mental health care of rural youth, especially rural minority youth.1-5 Yet, there are important reasons for paying more attention to this segment of the population. Rural households make up about 25% of the population. Some of the poorest regions of the United States are rural areas and areas with a high proportion of minority residents. Poverty and minority status have both been associated with risk for child psychiatric disorder,6-11 but these studies used urban samples and cannot elucidate the role of poverty, independent of inner-city residence, in the emotional and behavioral development of minority youth. Similarly, studies12 of sex and sex by ethnicity differences in the development of different psychiatric disorders have mainly used urban samples. Rural studies are also important in evaluating the effect of treatment availability on use of services, because access is generally poorer in rural areas.13