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A longitudinal study of adolescent mental health service use

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Abstract

This study examines longitudinal mental health service use patterns of a school-based sample of adolescents. Based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores, a stratified sample of middle-school students was interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children: cycle one (n = 579; mean age 12.83) and cycle two (n = 490; mean age 18.65). Service use also was assessed by mailed questionnaire: cycle three (n = 330; mean age 20.60). Service use decreased over time. Whites and males received significantly more treatment in the first cycle. In the second cycle, service use by race and gender was equal; in the third cycle, females received more treatment. Those with a psychiatric diagnosis (first cycle 54%; second cycle, 33%) received treatment in the prior year. Under-treatment of youth with psychiatric diagnoses is a significant problem, with differences in service use by race and gender over time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of South Carolina, USA

    Steven P. Cuffe MD (Associate professor)

  2. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, P.O. Box 202, 29202, Columbia, SC

    Steven P. Cuffe MD (Associate professor)

  3. the Office of Biostatistics at the Medical College of Georgia, USA

    Jennifer L. Waller PhD (Assistant Professor)

  4. the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the University of South Carolina, Columbia

    Cheryl L. Addy PhD (Associate Professor), Robert E. McKeown PhD (Associate Professor) & Kirby L. Jackson AB (Instructor)

  5. the Department of Internal Medicine, the University of South Carolina Medical School, USA

    Jamaluddin Moloo MD, MPH (Assistant Professor)

  6. the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine and Provost at the University of Louisville, USA

    Carol Z. Garrison PhD (Professor)

Authors
  1. Steven P. Cuffe MD
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  2. Jennifer L. Waller PhD
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  3. Cheryl L. Addy PhD
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  4. Robert E. McKeown PhD
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  5. Kirby L. Jackson AB
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  6. Jamaluddin Moloo MD, MPH
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  7. Carol Z. Garrison PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven P. Cuffe MD.

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Cuffe, S.P., Waller, J.L., Addy, C.L. et al. A longitudinal study of adolescent mental health service use. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 28, 1–11 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02287230

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02287230

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