October 9, 2023 – About one in five youth within the U.S. suffered from clinical depression in 2021, the primary full 12 months of the pandemic, but fewer than half received treatment for the mental illness.
Teens who're Latino or multiracial had the best rates of depression but were least prone to receive treatment. The Insights were published this week in JAMA Pediatrics and supply one of the vital comprehensive pictures of the already well-documented teen mental health crisis that erupted throughout the pandemic.
One of the goals of the study is to look at whether there are differences within the frequency of occurrence of major depressive disorder amongst adolescents of various races or ethnicities, the authors write. They also examined how likely adolescents are to receive treatment for major depression. For the study, young people between the ages of 12 and 17 were defined as adolescents.
Researchers examined survey data from greater than 10,000 U.S. teens who participated 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. They found that adolescents of various racial or ethnic backgrounds had the best rates of major depressive disorder. Specifically, the evaluation showed that severe depressive disorders occurred in:
- About 27% of adolescents who reported multiple race or ethnicity reported having major depressive disorder.
- About 23% of Latino youth
- About 20% of white youth.
- About 15% of black youth.
- About 15% of Asian youth.
Meanwhile, only 29% of Latino youth and 21% of multiracial youth reported receiving treatment for his or her major depressive disorder, which was the bottom rate amongst all racial or ethnic groups analyzed within the study. Latino adolescents were least prone to be treated for major depressive disorder by a clinical-level care provider or mental health specialist, and were least likely of all groups to be prescribed medication.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is sometimes called clinical depression or simply depression. Symptoms can vary but typically include feelings of sadness and a lack of interest in activities that were once fun. Some people experience difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite, fatigue, and other physical changes. To diagnose depression, symptoms must last a minimum of two weeks American Psychiatric Association.
“The high rates of MDD may be attributed in part to the emotional turmoil and trauma of the pandemic, which affected youth overall, but particularly members of racial and ethnic minority groups, due to the disproportionately high rates of COVID-19-related illness and death,” they wrote Authors.
They also indicate that the high rates of depression could also be as a consequence of low utilization of mental health services and barriers to treatment corresponding to: B. poor access to mental health care amongst individuals who have public insurance corresponding to Medicaid. Only about 40% of psychiatrists accept Medicaid, the researchers found.
“These results suggest that U.S. federal policy should target youth as a whole and racial and ethnic minority populations in particular to ensure timely and equitable access to quality mental health treatment,” the authors write.