%0 Journal Article %J Administration and Policy in Mental Health %D 2015 %T Neighborhood sociodemographic predictors of Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) in schools: demonstrating a small area estimation method in the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS-A) Adolescent Supplement %A Green, Jennifer Greif %A Alegría, Margarita %A Ronald C. Kessler %A McLaughlin, Katie A. %A Gruber, Michael J. %A Sampson, Nancy A. %A Zaslavsky, Alan M. %K Adolescent %K Affective Symptoms %K Comorbidity %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Prevalence %K Residence Characteristics %K Schools %K Small-Area Analysis %K Socioeconomic Factors %X We evaluate the precision of a model estimating school prevalence of SED using a small area estimation method based on readily-available predictors from area-level census block data and school principal questionnaires. Adolescents at 314 schools participated in the National Comorbidity Supplement, a national survey of DSM-IV disorders among adolescents. A multilevel model indicated that predictors accounted for under half of the variance in school-level SED and even less when considering block-group predictors or principal report alone. While Census measures and principal questionnaires are significant predictors of individual-level SED, associations are too weak to generate precise school-level predictions of SED prevalence. %B Administration and Policy in Mental Health %V 42 %P 111–120 %8 jan %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1007/s10488-014-0550-8