National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health

Search past issues of the MCH Alert and other MCH Library resources at http://www.mchlibrary.info/databases/search.lasso

August 13, 2004

************************************************************

1. MCH LIBRARY RELEASES NEW KNOWLEDGE PATH ON MENTAL HEALTH IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

Mental Health in Children and Adolescents is an electronic guide on recent, high-quality resources for staying abreast of new developments in child and adolescent mental health and for conducting further research. Produced by the MCH Library, the knowledge path addresses the goals outlined in Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A National Action Agenda , and taps into the health, education, social services, and juvenile justice literature. The knowledge path includes information on (and links to) Web sites and electronic publications, journal articles, databases, and electronic newsletters. It is intended for use by health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, educators, and families who are interested in tracking timely information on this topic. The knowledge path is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_mentalhealth.html.

MCH Library knowledge paths on other maternal and child health topics are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/index.html. The MCH Library welcomes feedback on the usefulness and value of these knowledge paths. A feedback form is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/feedback.html.

• Of the 150 children, 38 (25.3%) were above the 85th percentile of BMI at 9.5 years of age, including 14 (9.0%) above the 95th percentile.
• The strongest risk factor for childhood overweight was parental overweight. This factor was correlated with highly emotional behavior on the child's part.
• Other risk factors associated with childhood overweight included low parental concern about their child's thinness, children with persistent tantrums over food, and children's hours of sleep at ages 3 and 4 (children who were to become overweight were reported to sleep about 30 minutes less on average -- primarily during the day -- than those who would remain normal weight).

• Compared with other children, CSHCN had higher rates of public insurance (29.8% vs. 18.5%), lower rates of private insurance (62.5% vs. 69.1%), and lower rates of being without insurance (8.1% vs. 11.5%).
• There were few significant differences in the distribution of premium sharing across the groups. Family premium contributions for employer-sponsored plans covering CSHCN averaged $2,058, or 4.4% of total family income; outlays for nongroup insurance were higher ($3,598, or 6.6% of income).
• Almost 20% of CSHCN from families with low incomes experienced some unmet need, compared with 9.1% of other children from families with low incomes and 9.9% of CSHCN from families with higher incomes.
• Out-of-pocket spending was higher for CSHCN compared with other children, both for families with low incomes and for those with higher incomes.

• About 1 in 6 U.S. adolescents (18.2%) reported depressive symptoms.
• Prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher among females than males; however, prevalence among both sexes increased with grade level.
• Prevalence of depressive symptoms varied by racial/ethnic group, and prevalence among females in all racial/ethnic groups was consistently higher than among males.
• The proportion of both males and females reporting depressive symptoms increased with increased involvement in bullying, both as bullies and as victims.
• Both males and females who reported using substances had significantly higher proportions of depressive symptoms than those who did not report using substances.
• Both males and females who reported having somatic symptoms one or more times a week had a significantly greater prevalence of depressive symptoms than those who did not report having these symptoms as often.