75,111-113 However, ethnic minority youth arc still unlikely to receive mental health services.9 The need for US national data Although these studies begin to address the urgent need for systematic information

tracking of the prevalence and distribution of mental disorders as well as patterns of service utilization as called for in the US Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health,11 national data are still unavailable. The absence of empirical data on the magnitude, course, and treatment patterns of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of US youth has impeded efforts essential for establishing mental health policy for this population.9,96,97,114-116 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Based on the recommendations of several reviews and advisory panels such as the landmark Surgeon General’s Report, on Mental Health11 and a subgroup of the National Institute of Mental Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Health (NIMH) National Advisory Mental Health NSC683864 cell line Council,117 NIMH established several research initiatives to address the lack of national statistics on mental health in children. First, a brief dimensional scale of recent (past 6 months) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical symptoms of mental disorders, the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ),118 was added to the National Health Interview Survey

(NHIS) in 2001. The NHIS assesses close to 50 000 families containing a total of approximately 10 000 youth (ages 4 to 17) each year.119,120 Second, selected modules from the NIMH Diagnostic

Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) Version 4121 were administered to a sample of 8449 youth (ages 8 to 19) in the 1999-2004 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.60,122 Third, the NIMH took advantage of the opportunity to collect nationally representative data on adolescent mental health Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical by extending the lower age range of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R),123 a nationally representative survey of adult mental disorders that was fielded from 2001 to 2003. The decision was made to limit the sample to youth ages 13 to 17 because pilot studies showed that the interview schedule used in the NCS-R, the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Version 3.0,123 had limited validity among youth younger than age 13. This NCS-R Adolescent Supplement (NCS- A) was consequently carried out in a nationally representative sample of 10 148 youth in the age range SB-3CT of 13 to 17. The NCS- A was designed to: estimate the lifetimc-to-date and current prevalence, age-of-onset distributions, course, and comorbidity of DSM-IV disorders in the child and adolescent, years of life among adolescents in the US; identify risk and protective factors for the onset and persistence of these disorders; describe patterns and correlates of service use for these disorders; and lay the groundwork for subsequent follow-up studies that can be used to identify early expressions of adult mental disorders.