Study: Perceptions of Youth Mental Health Vary by Race
State House News Service
       Parents and adolescents have different perceptions of mental health problems among youths, and their assessments vary depending on racial and
ethnic backgrounds, according to research findings newly published in the Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease.
        According to research conducted by officials at the University of Texas and the Cambridge Health Alliance and based on a 2000 teen health study in Houston, youths were more likely than their parents or caregivers to report that their perceived mental health was fair or poor, that they were unhappy or that they were experiencing problems at school. Researchers found that white parents and youth were significantly more likely to agree on reports of perceived mental health, problems at home, and problems at school than their African-American and Latino counterparts.
       White youths with mental disorders were also about twice as likely to use outpatient services, and two and a half times more likely to see a professional for mental health problems.
        "Our results suggest that minority parents might have an increased likelihood of missing mental health problems in their children,” said Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Margarita Alegria, director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at the Cambridge Health Alliance. “This is critical, since parents act as gate-keepers to mental health services.”
        Researcher Robert E. Roberts of the University of Texas said the next stage of research will look at factors that might explain why minority parents have a higher threshold for defining a child as having a mental health problem.