Title of Thesis: ASSOCIATION BETWEEN POVERTY AND ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT AMONG CHILDREN, AGES 3-17, IN THE UNITED STATE 
   
Thesis Chair: Dr. Ike Okosun

INTRODUCTION: Mental health disorders affect an individual’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being and affects 13-20% of adolescents between the age of 13 to 18. Majority of term mental illnesses start in the childhood and adolescent years, with 50% of all lifetime cases starting around age 14 years. Treatment at early ages means decreased risk of long-term problems linked to mental disorders like alcohol and drug abuse. Children living in poverty have a higher risk factor for mental disorders and may also have limited access to quality mental health care. 

AIM: The purpose of this study is to determine association between children’s poverty and their use mental healthcare services using data from the 2017 National Survey of Children’s Heath (NSCH).
 
METHODS: The NSCH is a cross-sectional survey that collects information on the physical and emotional health; and parent and neighborhood characteristics of a nationally representative sample of children aged 0-17 years. A total of 21,599 participants were interviewed in the 2017 wave of the survey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between poverty, seeking mental health treatment, and access to health insurance. 

RESULTS: Seeking a mental health professional for treatment was significantly associated with all variables including race, education of parent, insurance status and federal poverty level. After adjusting for all factors, children who lived in poor households were significantly more likely to report not having seen a mental health professional even though it was needed (OR=2.19, 95% CI: 1.59, 3.03). 

DISCUSSION: The results suggest that there is a strong association between child poverty and lack of access to needed mental health are. There is a need for interventions to improve access to mental health care services for children from poor households in order to prevent further complications, and other long-term health problems. Further research can also help identify other factors that impact childhood mental disorders and disparities in access to treatment among underrepresented populations.