Affiliation:
1. Junxiu Liu and Nita Vangeepuram are with the Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Zhiyang Zhou is with the Department of Statistics, University of Manitoba, Canada. Xi Cheng is with the Interdisciplinary Program of Science in Analytics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Nita Vangeepuram is also with the Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Abstract
Objectives. To assess geographic and sociodemographic variations in prevalence of mental health symptoms among US youths. Methods. We analyzed data from the Household Pulse Survey, phases 3.5 and 3.6, between June 1 and November 14, 2022. The sample included 103 296 households with an estimated 190 017 youths younger than 18 years. We defined mental health symptoms based on parental responses and estimated prevalence by state and subgroups, including race/ethnicity, parental education, household income, housing tenure, household food sufficiency, and health insurance coverage. All analyses incorporated sampling weight. Results. An estimated 34.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 33.7%, 35.3%) of youths had parent-reported mental health symptoms. The prevalence of symptoms varied across states, ranging from 27.9% (95% CI = 23.8%, 32.0%) in Florida to 46.4% (95% CI = 41.9%, 50.9%) in New Hampshire. We observed variations by subgroup, with youths in households that did not pay rent reporting a prevalence of 43.8% (95% CI = 39.3%, 48.4%) and those experiencing food insufficiency reporting a prevalence of 56.0% (95% CI = 50.9%, 61.2%). Conclusions. There is an urgent need for attention to mental health challenges among youths, taking into account geographic and sociodemographic variations. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(10):1116–1119. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307355 )
Publisher
American Public Health Association
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health