ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATE - UTILIZATION OF SERVICES II - UTILIZATION OF MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES IN A TRIETHNIC SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENTS

In our study of a tri-ethnic sample of 2528 junior and high school stu dents, we examined utilization of outpatient mental health services in relation to a number of variables cited in the literature as leading to potential biases and barriers to care. These include: age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family size and composition, and ling uistic fluency in Hispanic youth. The impact of service availability w as examined through differences between the two regions studied: a wel l-served region of coastal southeast Texas and the markedly under serv ed lower Rio Grande Valley. The impact of symptomatology was evaluated using the total problem score on the Youth Self Report by Achenbach. Hispanic youth had significantly lower mean service utilization than n on-Hispanic whites. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that soc ioeconomic status and family composition had a greater relative impact on utilization than all other non-clinical factors, both for the tota l sample as well as for the Hispanic sample. Ethnicity may play a sign ificant role in child mental health services utilization through its c lose association to socioeconomic status.