State Differences in Children's Mental Health Care.

OBJECTIVE

This study estimates and compares variation in the probability of child unmet need for mental health care and difficulties accessing care for each state in the United States. Estimates are also generated and compared for three socioeconomic and demographic subgroups nationwide: racial and ethnic group, household income, and insurance type.

METHODS

Using a retrospective, cross-sectional design, this study pooled 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health data. National, state, and subgroup adjusted probabilities of caregiver-reported child unmet need for mental health care and ease of access to mental health care were generated from logistic regression models with marginal post-estimation.

RESULTS

Adjusted national probabilities of caregiver-reported child unmet mental health need and difficulty in accessing care were 0.21 and 0.46, respectively. State probabilities of unmet need ranged from 0.08 to 0.32. One state was significantly above the national estimate; nine states were below it. State probabilities of difficulty accessing mental health care ranged from 0.28 to 0.57; nine states' probabilities were significantly below the national estimate and two states were significantly above it. Estimates of unmet mental health need and difficulty accessing care varied more widely across states than across racial or ethnic groups, income groups, insurance groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Geographic inequities in children's mental health care access persist; in some cases, they are larger than sociodemographic inequities.