Abstract
This study examined factors in immigrant children’s use of mental health services. Employed data described 4873 immigrant parents and children participating in the 2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Logistic regression results associated these children’s likelihood of receipt of mental health services with, in positive direction, child mental health problems (ADD/ADHD; depression; anxiety; conduct/behavior problems), child age, parent education, and English proficiency. Associated in negative direction with likelihood of receipt of services were child physical health, Asian ethnicity, married parent, employed parent, and first-generation immigrant family. We found no association of services receipt with “other mental health problem”, child gender, other minority races/ethnicities, parent gender, parent age, percentage of child’s lifetime spent as U.S. resident, or health insurance status. Study implications include need to disseminate, in immigrants’ native languages, information on mental health, available services, and Medicaid; and need to increase access to services by providing immigrant families with child care, interpreters, flexible scheduling, in-home therapy, bilingual therapists, and therapists sharing child’s own race/ethnicity.
Highlights
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A study examined mental health services utilization in a national sample of immigrant children.
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Being from a first-generation immigrant family lowered a child’s likelihood of using such services.
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Not speaking English at home decreased children’s likelihood of using mental health services.
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Having relatively well-educated parents increased children’s likelihood of using such services.
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Asian immigrant children were less likely to use mental health services than White immigrant children.
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As a secondary data analysis of a public-use national data set, the present research received exempted approval from the institutional review board of the university. The original researchers of the data set obtained informed consent from participants.
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Cheng, T.C., Lo, C.C. Factors Related to Use of Mental Health Services by Immigrant Children. J Child Fam Stud 31, 228–236 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02209-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02209-6