Prevalence of Youth-Reported DSM-IV Psychiatric Disorders Among African, European, and Mexican American Adolescents

doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000235076.25038.81

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume 45, Issue 11, November 2006, Pages 1329-1337

https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000235076.25038.81 Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

The authors present prevalence data for adolescents in a large metropolitan area and examine the association of DSM-IV diagnoses with functional impairment and selected demographic correlates among European Americans (EA), African Americans (AA), and Mexican (MA) Americans.

Method

The authors sampled 4,175 youths ages 11 to 17 years whose households were enrolled in large health maintenance organizations. Data were collected using questionnaires, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV and the Children's Global Assessment Scale. The data were collected in the Houston Metropolitan area in 1998-2000. Data on psychiatric disorders were derived from interviews with youths only.

Results

AA had a lower prevalence of mood disorders, substance use disorders, and any disorders adjusted for Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV impairment or Children's Global Assessment Scale score than did others. EA had greatest prevalence of substance use disorders, whereas AA were lowest. After adjusting for covariates, EA had a higher risk for some disorders than AA. Effects of gender, age, parent education, family income, and marital status were not consistent across groups. Family income was protective only for EA.

Conclusions

There appear to be few systematic differences between majority and minority adolescents at risk for psychiatric disorders. MA are not at increased risk contrasted to EA. AA had lower risk for some disorders, but adjusting for impairment and covariates eliminated most differences. Thus, multivariate analyses support the hypothesis that initial ethnic differences appear to be a function of factors associated with disadvantaged minority status rather than to distinctive ethnic culture. A noteworthy finding was that disadvantaged social status did not appear to increase the risk for disorders among minority youths.

Section snippets

METHOD

The sample was selected from households in the Houston metropolitan area enrolled in local health maintenance organizations (HMOs). One youth, age 11 to 17 years, was sampled from each eligible household, oversampling for AA and MA. The HMOs made their subscriber household data available for sampling, including the age and gender of children. Because ethnic status was not available from the HMOs, a sampling fraction was used to generate a completed overall baseline target sample of 4,500 (1,500

Prevalence of Disorders

As can be seen in Table 2, the prevalence of one or more DISC-IV/DSM-IV disorders in the past year, without adjustment for impairment, was lower among AA contrasted with EA and MA youth but not significant. Using the DISC impairment algorithm, AA had significantly lower prevalences than EA (F_1,3811 = 7.19, p = .007) but not for MA youth. Adjusting for CGAS scores, AA had lower rates than EA (F_1,3811 = 11.1, p = .0009).

Anxiety disorders were more prevalent among AA (F_1,3811 = 5.32, p = .02) and

DISCUSSION

To summarize our findings, we found that AA youth were at lower risk for DISC-IV/DSM-IV disorders overall than were other youth when rates were adjusted for DISC-IV impairment and CGAS score. About one in six youths met criteria for one or more disorders in the past year, with no difference among groups in crude rates.

How do these results compare with other studies? As noted earlier, there have been few. Costello et al. (1997) found no overall difference between EA and NA youth. Angold et al.

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Supported in part by grants MH49764 and MH65606 from the National Institutes of Health , awarded to Dr. R.E. Roberts.

Disclosure: The authors have no financial relationships to disclose.

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ARTICLESPrevalence of Youth-Reported DSM-IV Psychiatric Disorders Among African, European, and Mexican American Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

METHOD

Prevalence of Disorders

DISCUSSION

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am

J Adolesc

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America

Psychiatric disorder, impairment, and service use in rural African American and white youth

Arch Gen Psychiatry

The importance of ethnicity in the development of identity of black adolescents

Psychol Rep

Correlates of mental disorders in the Quebec general population of 6 to 14-year olds

J Abnorm Child Psychol

Development of Mexican American identity.

A functionalist perspective on the nature of emotion

Monogr Soc Res Child Dev

The DSM-IV rates of child and adolescent disorders in Puerto Rico: prevalence, correlates, service use, and the effects of impairment

Arch Gen Psychiatry

The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth: goals, design, methods, and the prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders

Arch Gen Psychiatry

ARTICLES
Prevalence of Youth-Reported DSM-IV Psychiatric Disorders Among African, European, and Mexican American Adolescents