Child’s Mental Health Diagnosis Influenced by Ethnicity

The study found significant differences in the diagnosis of mental health disorders, depending on racial or ethnic group.

For example, 4.5 percent of African-American and 4.9 percent of Hispanic/Latino children and teens received diagnoses of psychotic disorder, compared with only 2.5 percent of white children and teens.

Diagnoses of behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, argumentativeness, lying and making threats to harm others, were also more frequent in African-American and Hispanic/Latino youth — 50.3 percent and 46.4 percent of these patients received a behavioral disorder diagnosis, respectively. Only 34.9 percent of white children and teens received this diagnosis.”*

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