Anxiety, depression continue to climb in children, teens, study finds

Key takeaways: 

• Increasing rates of mental health conditions: The study found that the rate of children with mental health conditions has continued to increase before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• National Survey Analysis: The researchers utilized data from the National Survey of Children’s Health to analyze trends related to kids’ and teens’ mental health prevalence. 

• Next steps: Moving forward, the researchers believe more work should be done in this area to better understand the potential causes of increasing rates of mental health concerns among young people.  

A new study conducted by researchers from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago explored the mental health trends in children and teens under 18. 

Their work found that rates of anxiety and depression continue to increase, and have been steadily increasing before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” lead author Marie Heffernan, Ph.D., said in a news release. 

“Parents and schools need more support to be better equipped to help children suffering from anxiety or depression,” she said.

The study

To understand how children and teens are impacted by mental health, the researchers analyzed data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) from 2016 through 2022.  

The NSCH is designed to provide “rich data on multiple, intersecting aspects of children’s lives — including physical and mental health, access to and quality of health care, and the child’s family, neighborhood, school, and social context.” 

The researchers utilized the data to compare the rates of mental health conditions and physical health conditions before, during, and after the pandemic. 

The results

Ultimately, the researchers learned that mental health conditions like anxiety and depression have been steadily increasing over time, while common pediatric physical health conditions have been decreasing over that same time. 

Here’s how the findings broke down: 

• Anxiety rates went from 7.1% in 2016 to 10.6% in 2022

• Depression rates went from 3.2% in 2016 to 4.6% in 2022

• Asthma rates went from 8.4% in 2016 to 6.5% in 2022

• Severe headaches/migraine rates went from 3.5% in 2016 to 2.6% in 2022

Based on these findings, the researchers hope that more work is done in this area to better understand why children’s mental health is worsening and what health care providers can do to combat this trend. 

“Continued attention and resources are warranted at a national level to clarify and address the multitude of potential causes of worsening anxiety and depression in children and adolescents,” said senior author Michelle Macy, M.D., M.S.