Children’s health care utilization and parenting stress as predictors of behavior problems

Previous research has found an association between children’s utilization of health care services and reduced child behavior problems. One reason for this relationship is that pediatricians have a unique role in the early identification of children’s mental health problems and in connecting families with needed mental health services. Consequently, children who do not utilize routine health care could be at a higher risk for behavior problems that may be left untreated, become more severe, or lead to greater functional impairment. Although parenting stress has been found to be associated with less utilization of care and more child behavior problems, prior studies have not examined whether parenting stress may account for or mediate this association. The current research aims to fill this gap in the literature using parent/guardian report data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health. Data were obtained from 62,988 children ages 6–17 from all 50 states and DC. Parents of children who did not utilize health care reported higher levels of parenting stress and reported their children as exhibiting more behavior problems, compared to children who utilized health care services. Parenting stress did mediate the association between children’s utilization of health care and child behavior problems.