| dc.contributor.advisor | Garber, Judy | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Korelitz, Katy | |
| dc.contributor.author | Youssef, Andrew M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-05-01T22:17:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-05-01T22:17:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012-04-03 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5088 | |
| dc.description | In a given year about one-quarter of American adults have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder, yet less than half of these individuals seek treatment. Therefore, it is important to examine this disparity in treatment seeking more closely, especially for parents with mental health problems who can both increase the risk of psychiatric disorders in their children and reduce the efficacy of their children’s treatment. The current study examined the extent and type of psychopathology among parents bringing their children to a psychiatric clinic, and assessed their treatment utilization in relation to parent sex, age, employment status, insurance, and attitudes toward treatment. Results showed that 40% of these parents endorsed symptom levels on the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) that were at least one standard deviation above the normative mean. Higher BSI total scores were significantly correlated with being female, lower education, being disabled (i.e., unable to work), and having TennCare health insurance. Of the 229 parents with high BSI scores, 43.2% were not receiving treatment; these parents were significantly younger, had less positive attitudes about treatment seeking than those in treatment, were more likely to be employed than not employed, and tended not to have any form of health insurance. This study represents an important step in determining the barriers for treatment seeking among this population. Suggestions for overcoming barriers to treatment seeking with the goal of reducing mental health problems in parents are discussed. [Psychology 296B - Honors Thesis - Professor Saylor] | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Sciences | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Vanderbilt University | en_US |
| dc.subject | psychopathology | en_US |
| dc.subject | parents | en_US |
| dc.subject | treatment seeking | en_US |
| dc.subject | attitudes toward treatment seeking | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Parents -- Mental health | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Mental health services -- Utilization | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Parents of mentally ill children -- Attitudes | en_US |
| dc.title | Psychopathology and Treatment Seeking of Parents of Children in Treatment for Psychiatric Problems | en_US |
| dc.title.alternative | Parental Psychopathology and Treatment Seeking | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
| dc.description.school | Vanderbilt University | en_US |
| dc.description.department | Psychological Sciences | en_US |
