Ethnic Differences in Use of Mental Health Services

Abstract

Youth from different backgrounds may suffer with mental health issues and it is important that they are able to receive the help that could be beneficial for them. Factors like inequity, racism, language, and poverty increase barriers to mental health treatment for those from minoritized communities (e.g., Castro-Ramirez et al., 2021). More work in the mental health field must be done to address service limitations of racial-ethnic minoritized youth including upgraded clinician practices, updated policy regulations, and help from funding agencies (e.g., Willis et al., 2022). The purpose of this study is to examine mental health service utilization rates across adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. It is hypothesized that adolescents of an ethnic minority background are less likely to obtain mental health services than adolescents of a Caucasian background. Additionally, it is hypothesized that ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization will be due in part to socioeconomic factors and possible language barriers. The participants for the study were adolescents (N = 1,169, 57% male, 43% female), ages 12-17, who participated in the CHIS 2021 study, which utilized address-based sampling from the state of California. Overall, participants included were: 38% White, 37% Latino, 14% Asian, 9% two or more races, and 3% other. Youth were asked questions online and over the phone, including the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler & Mroczek, 1992) as well as questions regarding their health care utilization and access. Analyses will compare mental health service utilization across adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. This study will help to understand ethnic disparities regarding mental health services to help improve mental health service utilization for adolescents regardless of their ethnic background.

Details

Session 2

3:00pm – 4:30pm

Grand Salon