Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Consultation of mental health professionals by French adolescents with probable psychiatric problems

1999; Wiley; Volume: 99; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb07210.x

1600-0447

I. Gasquet, Sylvie Ledoux, M. Chavance, Marie Choquet,

Psychiatric care and mental health services

A national sample of school‐attending adolescents aged 12–20 years ( n = 8435) filled out an anonymous self‐administered questionnaire. We considered a group of 868 adolescents with probable psychiatric problems (PPP) in order to identify personal, psychological and environmental factors as well as help‐seeking behaviour associated with consultation of mental health professionals (MHP). Among the adolescents with PPP, 13.7% consulted MHP at least once during the year. Logistic regression analysis showed that consultation with MHP was more frequent for adolescents with multiple problems (OR = 2.3), functional physical disorders (OR=1.9) family problems (OR = 2), separated parents (OR = 4.4) or multiple contacts with other doctors (GP, school doctor and other specialists, OR = 2.2, 3.6 and 2.6, respectively), and among those who confided in teachers or youth group advisors (OR = 2.2). Those who confided in peers consulted MHP less often (OR = 0.5). However, consultation with MHP was not associated with other sociodemographic or educational characteristics, with type of problem (internalized or externalized), or with confiding in one's parents.