NCJ Number
150053
Journal
Youth Studies Australia Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1994) Pages: 36-39
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes some of the health, educational, and social factors that characterized the 117 young people, between the ages of 12 and 16, who participated in the pilot Western Australia Child Health Survey in 1992.
Abstract
Overall, using parental completion of the child Behavior Checklists, the survey found a 6-month prevalence rate of over 19 percent for mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. The self-reported rate for the adolescents over the age of 12 was substantially lower than this figure. The most common morbidity was somatic complaints. Thirty-four percent of the teenagers surveyed reported having emotional or behavioral problems in the previous 6 months and nearly half of them felt they had more serious problems than other children their age. Fifteen percent of those with problems sought professional help, in contrast to between 24 percent and 55 percent of parents of these children. Other behaviors included in the survey included commonly accepted indicators of mental health risk such as smoking, sexual activity, and substance abuse. 1 table and 13 references