Factors Associated With Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Involvement Among Children With Severe Emotional Disturbance

Recent research has highlighted the fact that there is an overrepresentation of children with mental health problems in the juvenile justice system. Thus, this study uses a clinical sample of children receiving mental health services to examine demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity), person-level (e.g., anxious and/or depressed), family-level (e.g., number of transitions in living situations), and school-level factors associated with being involved in the mental health and juvenile justice service systems (i.e., dual involvement). Analyses were conducted separately by gender to investigate differences in dual involvement and possible differences in the predictors of dual involvement. For boys and girls, older adolescents and a higher number of living transitions were associated with dual involvement. For girls only, depression and/or anxiety and social problems were associated with dual involvement. The findings highlight the need for greater collaboration among service systems given the strong overlap between mental health and juvenile justice involvement for many children.