summary
background In the Netherlands access to mental healthcare is not evenly distributed over ethnic groups. Young persons of non-Dutch origin make only limited use of Dutch child and adolescent psychiatric services.
aim To investigate to what extent differences in the use of child and adolescent psychiatric services are related to ethnic cultural factors or socio-economic position.
method On the basis of data from the Rotterdam psychiatric case register we calculated the incidence-related risks for different ethnic groups and according to income level. Poisson regression analysis enabled us to take into account differences in the composition of the groups according to age and gender.
results All ethnic groups have less contact than the native population with the psychiatric services, but there is also an effect of income level, irrespective of ethnicity. In the native population the number of persons seeking assistance from the psychiatric services was found to be higher in lower income categories.
conclusion Access to the child and adolescent psychiatric services is influenced by both ethnic and socio-cultural differences.