Quick Facts

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Quick Facts

  • Depression among young mothers has been shown to influence the mental health of their young children. [i]
  • Head Start and other forms of quality early education have been shown to provide long-term social benefits in children, including better peer relations, less truancy, and less antisocial behavior.[ii]
  • Improving parenting skills through training can substantially reduce antisocial behavior in children. [iii]
  • Programs offering both a parent and a child component appear to be the most successful in promoting long-term developmental gains for children from low-income families.[iv]
  • On average, schools implementing a positive behavior support (PBS) system see improvements in social climate and academic performance and experience 20- to 60% reductions in disciplinary incidents.[v]
  • Interventions before a disorder manifests itself offer the best opportunity to protect young people.[vi]
  • Research shows that intervening early can interrupt the negative course of some mental illnesses; and early detection, assessment, and links with treatment and supports can prevent mental health problems from worsening.[vii]
  • Approximately one in every five children and youths has a diagnosable mental health disorder.
  • · One in ten has problems that are serious enough to interfere with their functioning at home, school or in the community.[viii]
  • · Parental reports indicate that approximately 5% of children and youths have severe emotional or behavioral difficulties.[ix]
  • More than half of adults who have had a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder in their lifetime report that problems started in childhood or adolescence.[x]
  • An estimated 75-80% of all children and youth with mental health problems do not get treatment.[xi]
  • Annually, of youth aged 12-17, 13% receive outpatient or inpatient services from a mental health professional.[xii]
  • 12% of youths received services for emotional or behavioral problems at school.[xiii]
  • 3% of youth received services from a pediatrician or family doctor.[xiv]
  • In 2003-2004, of youths aged 12-17, 6% were assessed as needing treatment for alcohol use but only 7% of those received treatment, and 5% needed treatment for illicit drug use but only 9% received treatment.[xv]
  • Latino children and youth are less likely to receive services for mental health problems than those of other ethnic groups.[xvi]
  • Texas, California and Florida have the country's highest rates of unmet need for child mental health treatment. In Texas and California, children from high-income families are more likely to receive some mental health services than those from low-income families.[xvii]

Links to general information on child mental health:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/child/childhealth.asp

American Academy of Pediatrics: www.aap.org/healthtopics/behavmenthlth.cfm

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: www.aacap.org/

Texas Child Study Center: www.dellchildrens.net/services_and_programs/texas_child_study_center_

National Institute of Mental Health: www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescent-mental-health/index.shtml



[i] National Advisory Mental Health Council Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention and Deployment (2001). Blueprint for Change: Research on Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Rockville: MD. National Institute of Mental Health

[ii] Berrento-Clement, J.R., Schweinhart, L.J., Barnett, W.S., Epstein, A.S., & Weikart, D.P. (1984) Changed Lives: The effects of the Perry Preschool Program on Youths through Age 19. Ypsilanti, MI: The High/Scope Press; Provence, S. (1985) On the efficacy of early intervention programs. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 6, pp. 363-366.; Seitz, V., Rosenbaum, L.K., & Apfel, N.H. (1985) Effects of family support intervention: A ten-year follow up. Child Development, 56, pp. 376-391.; Webster-Stratton, C. (1998) Preventing conduct problems in Head Start children: Strengthening parenting competencies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, pp. 715-730.; Weikart, D.P. (1998) Changing early childhood development through educational intervention. Preventive Medicine, 27, pp. 233-237.

[iii] Patterson, G.R., Dishion, T.J. & Chamberlain, P. (1993) Outcomes and methodological issues related to treatment of antisocial children. In R.R. Giles (Eds.) Handbook of Effective Psychotherapy (pp. 43-88). New Yourk: Plenum Press.

[iv] Shonkoff, J. P. & Phillips, D.A. (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

[v] BAZELON CENTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW (2009) Fact Sheet: Why States and Communities Should Implement School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Integrated with Mental Health Care. Way to Go — School Success for Children with Mental Health Needs http:/www.bazelon.org/pdf/WayToGo1.pdf

[vi] Committee on Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth and Families: Research Advances and Promising Interventions. Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: A Report Brief for Policymakers. March 2009. http://www.bocyf.org/prevention_policymakers_brief.pdf

[vii] The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003) Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/reports.htm

[viii] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

[ix] "America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2006.” ChildStats.gov

[x] National Academies, Institute of Medicine. (2009) "Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People”

[xi] National Center for Children in Poverty. (2006) "Children's Mental Health: Facts for Policymakers.” http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_687.html

[xii] National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA. "Mental Health Service Use among Youths Aged 12-17: 2005 and 2006”.

[xiii] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

National Findings. http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k6NSDUH/2k6Results.pdf

[xiv] Ibid.

[xv] Ibid.

[xvi] National Center for Children in Poverty. (2008) Unclaimed Children Revisited: The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States. http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_853.html

[xvii] "Geographic Disparities in Children's Mental Health Care.” Pediatrics, Vol. 112 No.4, October 2003.


 

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