Nearly 80% of children age 6-17 experience unmet mental health needs. It is important to identify factors contributed to youth unmet mental health needs. Caregivers play an important role in their children’s mental health care, especially for children of diverse background. Little attention has been paid to caregivers’ perceptions regarding whether the children need mental health services that have not been provided.  

Method: Data were obtained from caregivers of children in Florida’s Medicaid program through population based mail survey. Information on health/mental health was obtained by the Child Health Questionnaire subscale (CHQ), Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) and reported use of services in 2001. Subjects included caregivers of 1107 children 5-18 years old with 68% boys who were reported to (1) need or use mental health services; (2) have a psychiatric disability; or (3) have a PSC score above 27. The study include children 44% White, 48%% Black, and 8% Hispanic.  

Analytical Approaches: ANOVA was used to examine group differences. Logistic regression was used to identify predicting factors related to unmet mental health needs among children of diverse background. 
Findings:  Results indicate that recognition of needs for mental health by caregivers facilitates children’s use of mental health services regardless their race/ethnicities. Other factors related to children’s unmet mental health needs were also identified.

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