Youth mental health has steadily declined in the years prior to and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the worst affected? Pre-teen boys and teenage girls, according to the August 2024 report, “A Nation’s Children At Risk,” published by the Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of Southern California.
A Nation’s Children At Risk
According to the study, teen girls were more than three times as likely to experience abnormal levels of emotional symptoms compared to the other three groups: pre-teen girls, pre-teen boys and teen boys. The study also found that for the fall 2023 semester, students who were chronically absent from school were also three times more likely to be experiencing mental health issues.
Researchers asked parents and caregivers questions about their children’s emotional symptoms, behavior, peer relationships, school attendance, grades and wellbeing, among other topics. However, the study didn’t ask families to report on the causes behind declines in mental health. COVID-19 disruptions and continued academic learning loss have created “tons of pressures for these kids that are different from the pressures that existed before,” said Amie Rapaport, a co-author of the study and research scientist at USC.
Interested in learning how to foster mental health among preteens and teens? Check out our video on how parents and caregivers can support them on their journey through adolescence and nurture resilience.
What the numbers tell us
Pre-teen boys scored high for negative behavioral health issues.
Pre-teen boys showed the greatest struggle with conduct problems – such as cheating, fighting and stealing – and hyperactive and inattentive behaviors in the last six months of 2023. According to the study, 24% of pre-teen boys experienced mental health issues related to hyperactive and inattentive behaviors, while they also scored high on conduct issues, when compared to the other groups surveyed.
Teenage girls scored highest for emotional symptoms tied to poor mental health.
Teenage girls were found to have higher levels of negative mental health outcomes in many areas, but the highest were in emotional symptoms, which the study defined as “depressive behaviors, anxiety, nerves, fears and internalizing symptoms of those emotions,” such as stomach aches and headaches. Teen girls were also the most likely demographic to be struggling in multiple areas, according to the report.
The mental health services schools say they offer and what parents report being available don’t match.
According to Rapaport, there is also a discrepancy between what parents said was available in their children’s schools and what schools report nationally as being available. The study defined mental health supports as “counseling therapy guidance, counseling, case management support programs based on specific needs.”
The kids who need the most in-school mental health support have the least access to it.
Families with the lowest incomes reported the lowest numbers of in-school mental health supports, while families with the highest incomes reported the highest numbers. However, when asked, only 11% of families with the highest income said that their children used the mental health supports provided in school. Conversely, over 50% of families with the lowest incomes reported that their children used in-school mental health services.
Less than one third of Black families reported that their school had mental health supports for students, but more than one half of white families reported availability of mental health services in their schools. A deeper dive into barriers to mental health services at the local level is needed, Rapaport said. “What one district is struggling with might not be the same as what another district or school is struggling with.”
Excerpted from “Youth Mental Health Is Declining. School-based Supports Can Help” in KQED’s MindShift. Read the full article online for additional details.
Source: MindShift | Youth Mental Health Is Declining. School-based Supports Can Help, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64715/youth-mental-health-is-declining-school-based-supports-can-help | Copyright © 2024 KQED Inc.
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