Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to register

Click here for more information on The Virtual Advisor

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lopez-Williams, A.
Right arrow Articles by Stewart, D. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Vol. 4, No. 3, 266-280 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1541204006290159

Predictors of Mental Health Service Enrollment Among Juvenile Offenders

Andy Lopez-Williams

Psychological Centers, Inc.

Ann Vander Stoep

Elena Kuo

University of Washington

David G. Stewart

Seattle Pacific University

The objective was to identify predictors of public mental health service enrollment among detained juvenile offenders. A representative sample of 228 juvenile detainees was interviewed with measures of psychological symptoms and impairment, associated risk factors, and demographic variables. Logistic regression analyses determined how the 110 youth enrolled in mental health services differed from the 118 youth not enrolled. Main effects were found for age, gender, and number of prior detention stays such that younger offenders, female offenders, and recidivists were more likely to have received mental health services. Mental health status, level of functioning, and frequency of substance use were not related to service enrollment. Race interacted with mental health symptoms and recidivism such that Caucasians with greater numbers of symptom elevations and prior detention stays were more likely to be enrolled in mental health services, whereas symptom elevations and recidivism were not related to service enrollment among African American offenders. Systematic assessment and referral procedures may be a necessary step toward improving the likelihood that mental health services are distributed to juvenile offenders on the basis of mental health need.

Key Words: juvenile offenders • mental health service enrollment • juvenile delinquency


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?