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HEAD START ENROLLMENT AND CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT
Author(s) -
Lee Kyunghee
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.21655
Subject(s) - mental health , ethnic group , medicine , head start , early head start , baseline (sea) , demography , psychology , psychiatry , developmental psychology , oceanography , geology , sociology , anthropology
This secondary data analysis from a Head Start program examines the association between children's entry age and enrollment duration and the likelihood of mental health treatment. Study questions are as follows: (a) Do baseline characteristics differ among three groups of Head Start children? (children who enrolled at 3 years of age and stayed for 1 year [group 1], enrolled at 4 years of age and stayed for 1 year [group 2], and enrolled at 3 years of age and stayed for 2 years [group 3]); (b) Does the likelihood of children's mental health treatment differ among the groups?; and (c) Are baseline characteristics associated with the likelihood of mental health treatment? Except ethnicity and family size, other baseline characteristics did not differ across the three groups. Groups 1 and 3 received more mental health treatment than group 2. Different percentages of mental health treatment were found, depending on children's gender, ethnicity, family income, special needs, and bilingual status.