[Clients using the youth mental health services in The Hague are not an ethnic reflection of the youth of that city; bias not by social economic status but by ethnic origin]. / Cliënten Haagse jeugd-ggz geen etnische afspiegeling van de jeugd van de stad; niet door sociaaleconomische status, maar door etnische herkomst.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Young people who are born outside the Netherlands (or have at least one parent born outside the Netherlands) make less use of the mental health services than one might expect. AIM: To find out whether the under-use of these services is related to the average income or to the ethnic composition of the districts concerned. METHOD: The relationship between average income, ethnic composition and the percentage of youth treated per district was analysed on the basis of postal codes. RESULTS: The ethnic composition of the district was related to the percentage of young persons using the mental health services, but the average income was not. CONCLUSION: On the basis of district variables, the under-use of the youth mental health services was found to be an ethnic or cultural problem, not a poverty problem.