The Main and Interactive Associations between Demographic Factors and Psychopathology and Treatment Utilization in Youth: A Test of Intersectionality in the ABCD Study

Demographic factors may be associated with youth psychopathology due to social-contextual factors that may also pose barriers to intervention. Further, in line with intersectionality theory, youth with multiple non-dominant identities may be most likely to experience psychopathology and face barriers to care. This study examined rates of parent-reported psychopathology and mental health treatment utilization as a function of several demographic characteristics (in isolation and in concert) in a population-based, demographically diverse sample of 11,875 9- to 10-year-old youth. Results indicated most consistently that lower SES was associated with greater rates of psychopathology and greater likelihood of treatment utilization; that Asian American youth (relative to all other racial groups) and Hispanic/Latinx (relative to non-Hispanic/Latinx) youth were less likely to have a history of psychopathology or to have utilized treatment; and that male youth had greater rates of lifetime Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and were more likely to have utilized treatment. There was more modest support for interactive effects between demographic factors on psychopathology, which are discussed. The present study provides some support for differential rates of parent-reported psychopathology and treatment utilization as a function of demographic identities in youth. Potential explanations for these differences (e.g., cultural differences in symptom presentation; underreporting of symptoms) are discussed.