Post-September 11 mental health service help seeking among a group of highly exposed New York City parents

The current study examines factors related to mental health help seeking among highly exposed New York City parents of young children (< 5 years) after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Data were gathered from 180 parents through in-depth interviews 9 to 12 months postdisaster. Parents described family disaster-related experiences, mental health, changes in parenting and couple function, and mental health service use. In a multivariate model, child direct exposure to the World Trade Center disaster, as well as parent and child mental health symptoms 1 to 3 months post-September 11, were significant predictors of parent help seeking. Findings suggest the need to design disaster relief services that consider family disaster exposure and postdisaster family mental health symptoms, including the functioning of young children and related parental stress in the postdisaster context.