@article{ref1,
title="High value correlates of caregiver reported counseling service need and utilization for adolescents at-risk for childhood maltreatment and neglect",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2021",
author="Vázquez, Alejandro L. and Chou, Tommy and Navarro Flores, Cynthia M. and Barrett, Tyson S. and Villodas, Miguel T. and Domenech Rodríguez, Melanie M.",
volume="16",
number="10",
pages="e0258082-e0258082",
abstract="Adolescents with a history of child maltreatment experience increased risk for psychopathology that sets them on a trajectory towards a range of difficulties in adulthood. Various factors influence caregivers' decisions to seek mental health services (MHS) that could improve developmental outcomes. The present study applied a machine learning algorithm, elastic net, to a sample of 878 adolescent-caregiver dyads from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect. Analyses simultaneously examined a large number of factors to determine their ability to discriminate between caregivers who perceived a need for MHS and those who did not, as well as caregivers who utilized MHS and those who did not. <br><br>RESULTS highlight family demographics, chronic parental stressors, youth psychopathology, and exposure to recent adversities as good classifiers of caregiver perceived need for (77.6%; sensitivity =.77; specificity =.78) and utilization of (71%; sensitivity =.71; specificity =.71) adolescent MHS. Elastic net identified adolescent clinical externalizing and internalizing problems, and parental stress related to child(ren)'s behavior as high value classifiers of both outcomes. Youth living with non-kin caregivers were also significantly more likely to utilize MHS. <br><br>FINDINGS highlight the importance of assessing clinical need, stress related to child(ren)'s behavior, and caregiver kinship in understanding the likelihood that at-risk families will seek adolescent MHS.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0258082",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258082"
}