STATE MENTAL-HEALTH AGENCY SPENDING, 1985-1990

Major differences exist among states in the level of spending on menta l health care, in the magnitude and direction of changes in those leve ls, and in the share of resources devoted to state hospital and commun ity-based services. Using data collected by the National Association o f State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) Research Institute, this article describes those differences and examines their relation t o a set of state-level fiscal determinants of mental health spending. Levels of spending in 1990 and rates of change in those levels between 1985 and 1990 show virtually no correlation. Changes in spending betw een 1985 and 1990 are decomposed into several components. States with high growth tend to have high growth in tax capacity and high growth i n mental health spending as a share of health and welfare spending.