@article{ref1,
title="Racial/ethnic disparities in the decision points of mental health service use and psychotropic medication receipt among depressed youth",
journal="Youth and society",
year="2021",
author="Zhang, Saijun and Cain, Daphne S. and Liao, Minli",
volume="53",
number="4",
pages="610-635",
abstract="Depression has been increasing rapidly and is prevalent among youth. Inadequate mental health service utilization for youth and relevant racial/ethnic disparities are a growing concern. The current study used a nationally representative database to examine racial/ethnic disparities in youth depression prevalence, mental health services utilization, and psychotropic medication receipt. The sequential examination shows that depressed minority youth (22%-30%) were not only much less likely to use specialty mental health services than depressed Caucasian and multiracial youth (40%-43%, p <.001), they were also much less likely to receive psychotropic medications (22%-30%) than their Caucasian and multiracial counterparts (38%-44%, p =.048 to <.001) when using specialty mental health services. The findings reveal possibly two levels of racial/ethnic disparities at the decision points of accessing specialty mental health services and subsequent treatment methods choice. Implications for mental health policies and practices are also discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0044-118X",
doi="10.1177/0044118X19871853",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0044118X19871853"
}