ABSTRACT
Clinical assessment of ethnic minority children and adolescents should be informed by general information regarding these cultural groups as well as research on the validity and reliability of specific assessment instruments. Therefore, our paper begins with a discussion of some of the cultural factors related to clinical assessment for ethnic minority children and adolescents from the four major racial and ethnic minority groups, namely African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. A critique of the research with these ethnic minority children and adolescents is also presented. This is followed by a review of specific clinical instruments that are commonly used to assess mental health with these ethnic minority group children and adolescents. Given the different distribution of available literature, the four sections corresponding to the four racial ethnic minority groups do not necessarily use the same organizational framework. Finally, a specific case study of an African American patient is presented to illustrate some important cultural factors in clinical assessment with ethnic minority children and adolescents.
