Exploring the Impact of Marital Status on access to outpatient mental health treatment among adults in the United States: A Quantitative Analysis Approach.
Location
D.P. Culp Center Room 304
Start Date
4-5-2024 1:30 PM
End Date
4-5-2024 2:30 PM
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Category
Health
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Background: The increasing prevalence of mental disease worldwide, especially in the United States, highlights how critical it is to comprehend what factors are affecting people's ability to access mental health care. Mental health service underutilization continues despite efforts to address gaps across certain demographic categories, such as gender and race/ethnicity. In order to address this problem and shed insight on the factors impacting the mental health treatment-seeking behaviors among American adults, it is imperative that the relationship between marital status and mental health treatment utilization be explored. Based on the theory that married people have better access to social and financial resources, which may increase their likelihood of using outpatient mental health services, I hypothesize that there is a correlation between being married and higher utilization of outpatient mental health treatment. By testing this hypothesis, this study addresses two key gaps in the literature: firstly, it examines the independent association between outpatient mental health treatment utilization and marital status; secondly, it elucidates disparities in utilization among various unmarried subgroups, meeting the practical need for tailored mental health interventions. Methods: Utilizing data from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the study ran simple and multiple logistic regression models. The inclusion criteria for this study is individuals aged over 18 years who have experienced any form of mental illness within the preceding year, with an estimated sample size of 13,617 individuals. Results: After adjusting for other variables, the study found no significant link between being married (OR = 0.961, 95% CI: [0.759,1.217]) and the likelihood of utilizing outpatient mental health treatment. Similarly, no significant associations were found across different unmarried groups, suggesting that marital status may does not impact the use of outpatient mental health services. However, the study did reveal significant connections between treatment utilization and variables like gender, race, and health insurance status. Specifically, being male (OR = 0.576, 95% CI [0.484, 0.685]) and lacking health insurance (OR = 0.420, 95% CI [0.306, 0.576]) were associated with reduced odds of accessing outpatient mental health care. Conclusion: These findings highlight the complexity of factors affecting mental health treatment-seeking behaviors and stress the importance of taking various demographic and socioeconomic factors into account when designing interventions to address underutilization of mental health services. Moving forward, it's crucial for future research to delve deeper into understanding these factors to develop more effective strategies for improving accessibility and equity in mental health care.
Exploring the Impact of Marital Status on access to outpatient mental health treatment among adults in the United States: A Quantitative Analysis Approach.
D.P. Culp Center Room 304
Background: The increasing prevalence of mental disease worldwide, especially in the United States, highlights how critical it is to comprehend what factors are affecting people's ability to access mental health care. Mental health service underutilization continues despite efforts to address gaps across certain demographic categories, such as gender and race/ethnicity. In order to address this problem and shed insight on the factors impacting the mental health treatment-seeking behaviors among American adults, it is imperative that the relationship between marital status and mental health treatment utilization be explored. Based on the theory that married people have better access to social and financial resources, which may increase their likelihood of using outpatient mental health services, I hypothesize that there is a correlation between being married and higher utilization of outpatient mental health treatment. By testing this hypothesis, this study addresses two key gaps in the literature: firstly, it examines the independent association between outpatient mental health treatment utilization and marital status; secondly, it elucidates disparities in utilization among various unmarried subgroups, meeting the practical need for tailored mental health interventions. Methods: Utilizing data from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the study ran simple and multiple logistic regression models. The inclusion criteria for this study is individuals aged over 18 years who have experienced any form of mental illness within the preceding year, with an estimated sample size of 13,617 individuals. Results: After adjusting for other variables, the study found no significant link between being married (OR = 0.961, 95% CI: [0.759,1.217]) and the likelihood of utilizing outpatient mental health treatment. Similarly, no significant associations were found across different unmarried groups, suggesting that marital status may does not impact the use of outpatient mental health services. However, the study did reveal significant connections between treatment utilization and variables like gender, race, and health insurance status. Specifically, being male (OR = 0.576, 95% CI [0.484, 0.685]) and lacking health insurance (OR = 0.420, 95% CI [0.306, 0.576]) were associated with reduced odds of accessing outpatient mental health care. Conclusion: These findings highlight the complexity of factors affecting mental health treatment-seeking behaviors and stress the importance of taking various demographic and socioeconomic factors into account when designing interventions to address underutilization of mental health services. Moving forward, it's crucial for future research to delve deeper into understanding these factors to develop more effective strategies for improving accessibility and equity in mental health care.