Ecological Factors of Telemental Healthcare Utilization Among Adolescents with Increased Substance Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Effect of Gender

Background Adolescent substance use is often associated with concurrent mental health problems (e.g., depression, suicide attempts, parental emotional and physical abuse, not feeling close to people at school, and lower virtual connectedness) at multiple ecological levels. Objective This study exami...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Child & youth care forum Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 173 - 193
Main Authors:	Kim, Youn Kyoung, Small, Eusebius, Pounders, Rachel D., Fall, Salimata Lala, Wilson, Wendy L.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York Springer US 01-02-2024 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Adolescent Attitudes Adolescents Behavioral Science and Psychology Child and School Psychology COVID-19 Disease control Disease prevention Drug use Ecological Factors Ecology Emotional abuse Environmental aspects Gender Grade 9 Health problems Health services Health services utilization Help seeking behavior Mental disorders Mental health Original Paper Pandemics Psychology Regression analysis Risk factors Students Substance abuse Suicide Suicides & suicide attempts Teenagers United States > US COVID-19 substance use telemental healthcare adolescents mental health problems
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Background Adolescent substance use is often associated with concurrent mental health problems (e.g., depression, suicide attempts, parental emotional and physical abuse, not feeling close to people at school, and lower virtual connectedness) at multiple ecological levels. Objective This study examined whether such risk factors among adolescents were associated with the use of telemental healthcare (TMHC) and whether gender moderated these associations. Methods Data were drawn from the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from January to June 2021. A hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted using a national sample of 1,460 students in Grades 9–12 in the United States who reported having used more alcohol and/or drugs during the pandemic than before it started. Results The results showed that only 15.3% of students sought TMHC. Students reporting increased substance use during the pandemic were more likely to use TMHC if they experienced more severe mental health problems (e.g., suicide attempts) compared to other ecological factors, such as issues with their family, school, or community. Analysis of the moderating effect showed that the closer male students felt to people at school, the more likely they were to seek TMHC, whereas the opposite was true for female students. Conclusions The findings highlighted that feeling close to people at school is an important aspect of understanding the help-seeking behavior of female and male adolescent substance users.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1053-1890 1573-3319
DOI:	10.1007/s10566-023-09751-y