Child and Adolescent Mental Health and General Pediatrics: A Call for Papers

Research into mental health issues for children and youth has played a prominent role in papers published in Academic Pediatrics.^(1-4) A moderate amount of evidence suggests increasing rates of several mental health conditions among children and adolescents throughout the world and, along with major changes in the organization of care (limiting access to diagnosis and treatment) and financing of mental health services, has made mental health concerns even more prominent in general pediatrics.

In responding to challenges of increasing prevalence of mental health conditions, children's exposures to toxic environments and events, and the transformation of mental health services for children and youth, the general pediatric community is also undergoing transformation. We see a good number of questions that merit attention from the research community:

Are rates of children's mental health conditions increasing? If so, which ones? And why are they increasing? What opportunities exist for prevention?

How does poverty influence the onset, severity, and response to treatment of children's mental health conditions? Are there critical developmental times when poverty has more or less effect? What are the ways that culture and community interact with mental health conditions of children and youth? What protects certain children from these conditions and what preventive lessons relate to culture and community?

How do culture, community, and other sociodemographic factors influence access to mental health services from different sectors and how do they influence the uptake of treatment and its effects?

What models of care work best to improve prevention and treatment of mental health conditions among children and adolescents in primary care settings? What financial arrangements or incentives could enhance primary care provision of mental health diagnosis and treatment?

With this growth in impact of children's mental health on general pediatrics, Academic Pediatrics seeks manuscripts on children's mental health, especially in these areas of epidemiology, disparities, prevention, organization, and financing of care (Table). We plan to publish a series of papers together in the last issue of 2007. For this issue, we should have manuscripts submitted no later than May 15, 2007. Authors should otherwise follow the instructions in the journal or the website for submission, according to usual journal categories of research article, brief report, and commentary. We look forward to your submissions.

1. Cooper WO, Arbogast PG, Ding H, Hickson GB, Fuchs DC, Ray WA. Trends in prescribing of antipsychotic medications for US children. Ambul Pediatr 2006;6(2):79-83.

2. Stein RE, Silver EJ. Patterns of medical, educational, and mental health service use in a national sample of US children. Ambul Pediatr 2003;3(2):87-92.

3. Gardner W, Kelleher KJ, Pajer KA, Campo JV. Primary care clinicians' use of standardized tools to assess child psychosocial problems. Ambul Pediatr 2003;3(4):191-195.

4. Ortega AN, Goodwin RD, McQuaid EL, Canino G. Parental mental health, childhood psychiatric disorders, and asthma attacks in island Puerto Rican youth. Ambul Pediatr 2004;4(4):308-15