EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CHILD PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN RURAL MAINE

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This application is a revision of a proposal to conduct a three-year prospective study of a population-based cohort of children ages 4 to 11 living in rural Maine. The objectives are two pronged: I) to study the prevalence, persistence, and incidence of clinical and sub-clinical psychopathology in a sample of rural children; 2) to examine patterns and predictors of service use in a rural non-farm population. The study cohort will be selected as a probability sample of 2,300 households from a children's mental health planning region in eastern Maine stratified by rurality (i.e. town size, density, and propinquity to urban areas), with an over-sample of households in Native American reservations and sparsely populated hamlets. The population will be followed for three years with annual assessments of parents, children, and teachers. Extant data from an earlier rural Connecticut survey of 1,697 parents will also be used in analyses to explore hypotheses concerning the influence of population density and urbanization upon service use and psychopathology. The broad aims of the investigation are to contribute to the sparse scientific knowledge-base concerning the mental health of rural children in the United States. The study's principal public health objective will be to provide State and local children's agencies with otherwise unavailable information for planning children's rural mental health services. This application responds to the following NIMH program announcements: PA- 91-52- Research on Mental Disorders in Rural Populations; PA-91-46- Implementation of the National Plan for Research on Child and Adolescent Disorders; and the Public-Academic Liaison (PAL) for Research on Serious Mental Disorders.