Perception of need for help and use of mental health services in children and adolescents. Do they share the same predictors?

rest for the health policy of most developed countries. Literature on the use of services has covered various issues. One area is the investigation of unmet needs. Within the general population, research in the field has demonstrated that the majority of people with a diagnosis do not seek treatment (Pincus, Zaris & First, 1998) and that a substantial proportion of children’s needs are not adequately addressed (Burns, Costello, Erkanli & Tweed, 1997; Clausen, Dresser, Rosenblatt & Attkisson, 1998; Flisher et al., 1997; Pumariega, Glover, Holzer & Nguyen,1998; Staghezza, Bird, Gould & Canino, 1995). Costello, Burns, Angold and Leaf (1993) have reported that one in five children has a psychiatric disorder, one in ten suffers some degree of functional impairment, but only one in twenty receives some mental health care. Another area of interest relates to the chain of health agents that have to refer the child to mental health services. Various studies point out the need for a comprehensive system that should include different professionals, highlighting the important role that the school and the pediatricians or general practitioners play in bridging the gap between mental health service need and service utilization (Armbruster, Gerstein & Fallon, 1997; Barker & Adelman, 1994; Buckner & Bassuk, 1997; Godfrey, 1995; Rae-Grant, Offord & Munroe Blum, 1989; Staghezza et al., 1995). These studies call for sensitizing and educating parents in order to improve the detection of problems and so as to increase the probability of the parent asking for help under specific circumstances (Logan & King, 2001; Pavuluri, Luk & McGee, 1996). A sector of the re l evant re s e a rch has focused on when subjects use services, who uses those services and how and why they use them. From these studies, we know that parents can provide va l u able info rm ation on service use (Breda, 1996). Th e re is controve rs y c o n c e rning the agreement between parents and ch i l d ren on rep o rting use of services. While Leaf et al. (1996) found low agre e m e n t b e t ween the info rm ation given by parents and ch i l d ren on this top i c, Stiffman et al. (2000) have indicated that there is a poort o excellent correspondence between –parent-adolescent info rm at i o n . However, one of the main topics in the literature concerning services has been the study of those factors that are central to the process of help-seeking in order to provide satisfactory services. Within the group of demographic variables, there is agreement in that individuals who are white and older more easily use services Perception of need for help and use of mental health services in children and adolescents. Do they share the same predictors?