Publication year: 2011
Source: Children and Youth Services Review, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 22 July 2011
Crystal D., Williams , Michael, Lindsey , Sean, Joe
Mental health service underutilization among African American adolescents is well documented, yet not fully understood. Discordance between adolescents and their parents on perceived need for an emotional counselor and a psychiatrist may help explain low service use among this population. This exploratory, prospective study examined the relationship between parent-adolescent concordance on perceived need for an emotional counselor or a psychiatrist and mental health service use. The relationship between concordance and adolescent severity of depressive symptoms is also explored. Parent-adolescent dyads (n=108) receiving community-based adolescent outpatient mental health services responded to interview questions concerning their perception of whether an emotional counselor…
Highlights: ► Parents and adolescents differed in perceived need for an emotional counselor. ► Parents and adolescents did not differ in perceived need for a psychiatrist. ► Adolescents perceived greater need for mental health services than did parents. ► There was less concordance among adolescents with elevated depression symptoms. ► Concordant dyads kept a higher number of appointments than discordant dyads.