. "2 Approach to Research and Its Evaluation." Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children: Opportunities to Improve Identification, Treatment, and Prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.
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Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children: Opportunities to Improve Identification, Treatment, and Prevention
BOX 2-1
Summary of Large Psychiatric EpidemiologicalStudies in Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations
Mexican American Prevalence and Service Survey
U.S.-born Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants
Residents of Fresno, California
Ages 18–59
National Survey of American Life
African Americans, black immigrants from the Caribbean (recent and second-generation), non-Hispanic whites
Prevalence of mental health disorders, use of mental health services
National Latino and Asian American Study
Hispanics, Asian Americans, further stratified by ethnic subgroups
Ages 18 and older
Similarities and differences in mental illness and service use
National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
U.S.-born Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants residing in the United States, U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic white immigrants residing in the United States
Considers immigration status in conjunction with psychiatric morbidity
Doorways into the Domain of Depression in Parents
Research has highlighted two key facts relevant to our task of evaluating how best to approach the problem of depression in parents. First, most adults with depression do not get treated for it (Kessler et al., 1999; Kessler, Merikangas, and Wang, 2007; Narrow et al., 1993; Regier et al., 1993). The large-scale, psychiatric, epidemiological study by Kessler et al. revealed that less than one-third of adults with major depression or dysthymia used either general medical or specialty outpatient mental health services in the previous year. Second, the one-third of adults of parenting age with depression who do get treated uses a wide range of alternative points of contact. Yet given the number and multiplicity of depressive disorders’ comorbid mental and physical health problems (e.g., substance abuse, chronic pain), impairment (e.g., problems getting to work), and co-occurring conditions (e.g., poverty), one promising avenue to the identification of parents with depression is to focus on those who are seeking treatment or assistance for those associated conditions.
These alternative avenues to identifying parents with depression include a wide range of formal and informal service settings, which offer important points for screening and identification. Also, the children themselves may be
