School-Based Mental Health Services in Urban Communities

School-Based Mental Health Services in Urban Communities 

MARC S. ATKINS, STACY L. FRAZIER, JALEEL ABDUL ADIL, and EUZABETH TALBOTT 

The large gap between efficacy and effectiveness research has resulted in a new consensus regarding the need for research that will inform practice (National Institute of Mental Health, 1999 Weisz, 2000). Epidemiological studies indicate that fewer than 20% of children who need mental health care actually receive any services (Goodman et al., 1997). Earlier studies indicated that of those children who did receive services, fewer than 50% received the appropriate service relative to their need (Kazdin, 1996). These realities have led to two important movements in child mental health services efforts to increase the effectiveness of services principally by advocating evidence-based treatments (Hibbs Jensen, 1997 Weisz, 2000) and calls for alternative models for mental health services (Bums, 1999 National Institute of Mental Health, 1999). 

MARC S. ATKINS, STACY L. FRAZIER, and JALEEL ABDUL ADIL University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60680. EUZABETH TALBOTT Institute for Juvenile Research, Chicago, Illinois 

The effects of community violence on parents may also mediate the impact of community violence on children. Violence and poverty affect parents ability to monitor and discipline their children consistently and to provide needed support and nurturance (Gorman-Smith et al., 2000). Inner-city children s exposure to violence predicted increases in aggression and depression at a 1-year follow-up, even after controlling for prior levels of these problems (Gorman-Smith Tolan, 1998). However, family support moderated the effect of community violence, such that in families with high levels of parent-child conflict, high-witnessed violence had no additional influence on antisocial outcome (Miller et al., 1999). 

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