Effect of Mental Health Treatment, Juvenile Justice Involvement, and Child Welfare Effectiveness on Severity of Mental Health Problems

Mental health problems are, unfortunately, a common occurrence among youth who experience maltreatment. This study used an interdisciplinary approach to consider how demographic differences, justice involvement, type of treatment agency involved, and child welfare effectiveness impact mental health. The study analyzed Quality Services Review (QSR) data from 2,110 randomly sampled child welfare cases in a Midwestern state. Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of problem severity based upon agency involvement, team effectiveness, and intervention effectiveness. Gender (chi(2) = 24.16), age (chi(2) = 226.23), intervention effectiveness (chi(2) = 10.31), involvement with mental health agencies (chi(2) = 100.46) or juvenile justice (chi(2) = 11.57), (chi(2) = 24.16), and substance use agencies (chi(2) = 55.88) were significant predictors. Compared to those with no reported mental health problems, there were fewer significant predictors of mental health problems as the severity of mental health problems increased.