Multiracial adults report highest utilization of mental health services

From 2008 to 2012, adults reporting two or more races had the highest estimates of mental health services use within the past year, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General released a seminal report … that documented substantial differences in mental health service utilization between non-Hispanic white adults and other racial/ethnic groups,” researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration wrote. “Many of the racial/ethnic differences in mental health service utilization resulted from structural barriers, such as lack of transportation, low availability of care providers, cost and insurance barriers.”

Since then, significant policy changes have occurred that may influence insurance coverage for mental health care and access to care.

Researchers assessed 2008 to 2012 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to provide more recent, nationally representative estimates of mental health service utilization among adults across different racial/ethnic groups in the United States.

Analysis indicated that adults reporting two or more races utilized mental health resources the most within the past year (17.1%), followed by white (16.6%), American Indian or Alaska Native (15.6%), black (8.6%), Hispanic (7.3%) and Asian (4.9%) adults.

Pamela Collins

White adults had the highest estimates of prescription psychiatric medication use within the past year at 14.4%, followed by multiracial (14.1%), American Indian or Alaska Native (13.6%), black (6.5%), Hispanic (5.7%) and Asian (3.1%) adults.

Multiracial adults utilized outpatient mental health services the most within the past year (8.8%), followed by white (7.8%), American Indian or Alaska Native (7.7%), black (4.7%), Hispanic (3.8%) and Asian (2.5%) adults.

Racial/ethnic differences in annual estimates of mental health service utilization were similar among all adults, those with any mental illness and those with serious mental illness.

As mental illness severity increased, utilization of mental health services increased across all racial/ethnic groups.

Overall, the most common reason for not using mental health services was cost or lack of insurance coverage. The belief that services would not help was the least common reason reported.

Among adults with mental illness, white adults were the most likely to cite cost or insurance and the belief that mental health services would not help as reasons for not using mental health services vs. other racial/ethnic groups.

“This is a wonderful resource,” Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, director of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health, said in a press release. “These findings will help us identify who is not getting the services they need and where the hurdles lie.” – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Service Use among Adults. Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data. Accessed May 1, 2015.