Symposia
Health Care System / Public Policy
Philip Baiden, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, Texas
Hannah Szlyk, LCSW, PhD
Research Coordinator
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri
Chioma Muoghalu, MD
Pediatrician
Plains Regional Medical Center
Clovis, New Mexico
Henry Onyeaka, MB, ChB
Research Fellow in Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Despite the high-risk profile of adolescents with co-occurring substance use (SU) and suicidal behaviors (SB), and the potential challenges for treatment engagement, there is minimal understanding of mental health treatment receipt among this youth group and how this compares to youth with only SU or SB. This study examined the prevalence of mental health services (MHS) utilization and factors associated with mental health service utilization among adolescents ages 12-17 with SU and/or SB. Using data (N= 2,829) from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we identified the prevalence and determinants of adolescent MHS utilization across four groups of SU and/or SB profiles. Binary logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with treatment utilization among youth only with co-occurring SU and SB. Thirty-four percent had co-occurring SU and suicidal SB. The proportion of youth with SU and SB that used each of the four treatment services was significantly greater than the three remaining profiles. Among youth with SU and SB, females were between 1.59 to 2.30 times more likely to have received all four types of services than males. Black/African American youth were 55% less likely to have received specialty mental health services but 1.71 times more likely to have received non-specialty mental health services than non-Hispanic White peers. Results suggest that co-occurring SU and SB is a prevalent problem among adolescents. Male and Black/African American adolescents with co-occurring SU and SB remain underserved.