Emergency Mental Health Services for Children After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.
[Article]
Bruckner, Tim A; Kim, Yonsu; Lubens, Pauline; Singh, Amrita; Snowden, Lonnie
Much literature documents elevated psychiatric symptoms among adults after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11). We, however, know of no research in children that examines emergency mental health services following 9/11. We test whether children's emergency services for crisis mental health care rose above expected values in September 2001. We applied time-series methods to California Medicaid claims (1999-2003; N = 127,200 visits). Findings in California indicate an 8.7% increase of children's emergency mental health visits statistically attributable to 9/11. Non-Hispanic white more than African American children account for this acute rise in emergency services.