Examining Intersections in Diagnostic Disparities for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health

• In Event: 4122 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (60 min)
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 4. Youth and Health

Abstract

Adapting an under-utilized multi-level modeling approach to the study of intersectionality, this study updates and extends the literature on patterns of unequal diagnosis among U.S. children by investigating mutually-constituting, cross-cutting social identities and ADHD diagnosis. Data from the National Survey of Children’s Health were used to model the intersectional effects of gender, race, ethnicity, education, and class on ADHD diagnosis while controlling for known correlates of diagnosis. For less-educated Black, non-Hispanic children, high ADHD rates decrease as families’ incomes increase. High rates of ADHD amongst multiple groups of males also dissipate with higher family income. Among high-income ‘other’ race, non-Hispanics, high rates of ADHD decrease with less parental education. Multiple, interlocking social identities are associated with ADHD rates in distinct and unique ways, not captured in traditional multivariate analyses. Understanding the dynamic diagnostic patterns across interlocking social identities holds important policy and practice implications.

Authors

• Meredith R. Bergey, Villanova University

• Giuseppina Chiri, Brandeis University

• Nikki Freeman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• Thomas Ives Mackie, School of Public Health, Rutgers University