Prevalence of Mental Health Diagnoses Among Early Adolescents Before and During Foster Care.
Toria Herd, Lindsey Palmer, Sarah Font
PMID 37126598WHAT IT FOUND
Most fostered adolescents had a mental health diagnosis before or during care.
New diagnoses in care were mostly adjustment disorders. Black and Hispanic youth were more likely to receive a first diagnosis while in foster care, whereas White youth often already had one.
Key findings
0141% of the cohort received health care services for at least one mental health diagnosis in the six months prior to foster care entry.
02Of those entering foster care with no prior mental health diagnosis, 72% received a diagnosis during care, with adjustment disorders being the most common new diagnosis.
03Black and Hispanic early adolescents were more likely to be newly diagnosed with a mental health disorder while in foster care, whereas White early adolescents were more likely to already have a diagnosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study only includes adolescents on public insurance for six months before foster care entry, excluding 20% of the target population. Diagnoses are drawn from insurance claims, meaning they only capture conditions for which the adolescent received billable health care services. Researchers cannot verify the accuracy of the diagnoses or determine the true onset of symptoms, relying entirely on provider coding. This is a single-state study, so findings may not apply to foster care systems in other regions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that new diagnoses made during foster care represent the onset of a disorder. These findings likely reflect the first time these youth accessed consistent health care, revealing unmet needs that existed before they entered the system.