Professional help seeking for young children with mental health problems

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of participants. *All loss to follow up due to failure to return questionnaires.

Table 1. Sample characteristics

Variable	Full data at 1.5 years (n = 668)a	Full data at 3 years (n = 592)a	Full data at 6 years (n = 441)a
Infant
Male (%)	51.3	51.3	52.4
Family
Education status (% mothers/% fathers)
Did not complete high school	20.4/31.0	17.5/30.9	17.5/30.6
Completed high school/and tertiary education	79.6/69.0	82.4/69.1	82.5/69.4
Anglo‐Australian cultural identity (%)	78.0	78.4	80.2
Language other than English at home (%)	3.6	2.9	1.1
Married/de facto (%)	97.3	97.8	94.0
Annual household income $AUD (%)
≤30,000	9.9	8.0	4.7
>30,000	90.1	92.0	95.3
Maternal mental health (mean (SD))
Depression	3.1 (4.3)	3.5 (5.0)	3.0 (4.5)
Anxiety	1.8 (3.3)	1.8 (3.1)	1.9 (3.7)
Stress	7.9 (6.0)	9.2 (6.5)	8.3 (6.4)
Neighbourhood
SEIFA (mean (SD))	1055 (77.2)	1054 (76.8)	1052 (77.1)

Only participants who provided a full set of data were included in the analyses (n).

Table 2. Proportion of young children with elevated CBCL total problem scores (≥60) and sources of help accessed

Wave (years)	Total sample (N)	Proportion with elevated CBCL scores, n (%)	Proportion of children with elevated CBCL scores n (%)
			No help	Informal help^2	General health professional^3	Specialist mental health professional^4
1.5	668	87 (13.0)	49 (56.3)	33 (37.9)	6 (7.0)	0 (.0)
3	592	113 (19.1)	53 (46.9)	51 (45.1)	9 (8.0)	0 (.0)
6	441	86 (19.5)	49 (57.0)	31 (36.0)	18 (20.9)	14 (16.3)

Informal help = friends, family, books, video/tv, teacher, and day care staff.

General health professional = phone counselling, MCH nurse, GP, and paediatrician.

Specialist mental health professional = psychologist and psychiatrist.

Table 3. Variables significantly associated with professional service use in bivariate logistic regression

Potential predictors	1.5 years		3 years		6 years
	OR (CI)	p	OR (CI)	p	OR (CI)	p
Child factors
Gender	.72 (.44–1.17)	.18	.87 (.9–1.51)	.60	.97 (.53–1.75)	.91
1.5‐year CBCL total problem score	1.02 (1.00–1.03)	.02	1.02 (1.00–1.03)	.12	1.01 (.99–1.03)	.32
3‐year CBCL total problem score	–	–	1.02 (1.01–1.04)	<.001	1.03 (1.01–1.05)	<.000
6‐year CBCL total problem score	–	–	–	–	1.09 (1.06–1.12)	<.000
Elevated CBCL total problem score at two time points					1.27 (.55–2.94)	.06
Elevated CBCL total problem score at three time points					3.02 (.91–10.04)	.07
Parent factors
Accessed services for personal stress	3.55 (1.94–6.49)	<.000	6.46 (3.40–12.27)	<.000	13.39 (6.12–29.28)	<.000
Recognised child behaviour as more difficult than average	4.62 (2.31–9.25)	<.000	6.02 (3.15–11.54)	<.000	17.43 (8.51–35.69)	<.000
Mental health
Depression	1.09 (1.05–1.14)	<.000	1.10 (1.05–1.15)	<.000	1.04 (.98–1.10)	.16
Anxiety	1.07 (1.01–1.14)	.02	1.15 (1.07–1.23)	<.000	1.05 (.98–1.12)	.17
Stress	1.09 (1.05–1.13)	<.000	1.08 (1.04–1.12)	<.000	1.04 (1.00–1.08)	.08
Past behaviour
Accessed help for child at 1.5 years	–	–	3.62 (1.80–7.29)	<.000	2.15 (1.00–4.63)	.05
Accessed help for child at 3 years	–	–	–	–	4.79 (2.27–10.11)	<.000
Family demographics
Mother's education > year 12	1.07 (.58–1.98)	.83	.80 (.40–1.60)	.52	.47 (.24–.92)	.03
Partner's education > year 12	1.38 (.7902.43)	.26	1.69 (.85–3.38)	.14	1.09 (.56–2.10)	.81
Mother's cultural identity (Anglo‐Australian)	1.02 (.57–1.83)	.96	1.24 (.64–2.40)	.53	.54 (.22–1.32)	.18
Partner cultural identity (Anglo‐Australian)	.90 (.49–1.68)	.75	1.52 (.79–2.93)	.21	1.01 (.47–2.19)	.98
Living arrangements
Two parents (vs other)	.37 (.04–3.63)	.40	.29 (.03–2.79)	.28	3.23 (1.28–8.14)	.01
Mother employed	.74 (.42–1.30)	.30	.92 (.49–1.75)	.80	1.03 (.54–1.98)	.92
Partner employed	3.45 (.46–25.81)	.23	2.17 (.29–16.47)	.45	1.00 (.99–1.01)	.99
Household income >$AUD30,000	.99 (.41–2.41)	.98	.61 (.24–1.51)	.28	.26 (.09–.79)	.02
Neighbourhood
Socio‐economic status	1.00 (.99–1.00)	.67	1.00 (1.00–1.01)	.97	1.00 (.99–1.00)	.45

CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.

Table 4. Variables significantly associated with professional service use in multivariate logistic regression

Predictors	1.5 years		3 years		6 years
	OR (CI)	p	OR (CI)	p	OR (CI)	p
Child factors
6‐year CBCL total problem score	–	–	–	–	1.07 (1.03–1.12)	.001
Parent factors
Accessed services for personal stress	2.41 (1.24–4.68)	.01	4.73 (2.31–9.68)	<.000	6.91 (1.68–28.44)	.007
Recognised child behaviour as more difficult than average	3.02 (1.39–6.58)	.005	4.99 (2.52–11.07)	<.000	7.67 (2.56–22.99)	<.000
	Nagelkerke R^2 = .11		Nagelkerke R^2 = .22		Nagelkerke R^2 = .50

CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.