The Role of Social Contexts and Special Education in the Mental Health Problems of Urban Adolescents

Abstract

We explored the perceptions that youth with and without self-reported mental health problems had of their social contexts (family, peer, and school) and the extent to which youth with mental health problems had received special education services in school. We examined data for 4,088 urban youth with self-reported externalizing, internalizing, comorbid, and no mental health problems in early adolescence. With regard to family context, students with comorbid problems reported significantly lower scores for parent attention to misbehavior than students without mental health problems, and students with internalizing problems reported significantly less positive parent—child relations than those with externalizing problems. With regard to peer context, students with externalizing and comorbid problems reported that significantly greater numbers of their friends were involved in risky behavior than did members of the other groups. With regard to school context, students with internalizing and comorbid problems reported feeling more anonymous and less well-liked by peers and teachers than students with externalizing problems. Significantly more internalizers and members of the comorbid group were in special education classes than expected. The majority of the students with self-reported mental health problems received services for learning disabilities.