Study finds 48 percent of young adults struggled with mental health in mid-2021
Date:
April 13, 2022
Source:
University of California - San Francisco
Summary:
About half of young adults had mental health symptoms during the
pandemic and more than a third of those were unable to access
mental health therapy, a new study found.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== About half of young adults had mental health symptoms during the
pandemic and more than a third of those were unable to access mental
health therapy, a new UC San Francisco study found.
==========================================================================
The study, published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health, used
Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau to determine
the prevalence of anxiety and/or depression symptoms in a sample of 2,809 adults ages 18-25 years. The data, collected in June through early July
2021, also included rates of mental health service utilization and unmet
need for mental health therapy.
Forty-eight percent of young adults reported mental health symptoms and,
among those with symptoms, 39% used prescription medications and/or
received counseling, while 36% reported unmet counseling need. Female,
Hispanic and uninsured young adults had the greatest unmet need, though
these trends were not statistically significant.
The "unmet need" figures were a bit surprising, said Sally Adams, PhD,
RN, specialist in UCSF's Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.
"Given that only about one third of those with symptoms received care,
we might have expected to see closer to two-thirds reporting unmet need,"
said Adams.
"It could be that the people with symptoms who didn't report unmet need
either didn't think their symptoms were serious enough for treatment or
feared the stigma of needing mental health services." While the rates of mental health symptoms in this study are high, they are a decline from
a CDC study that found 63% of young adults were experiencing depression
or anxiety a year earlier in June 2020.
Nonetheless, the consistent findings of significant mental health
struggles among young adults highlight the importance of addressing
barriers to care for this group, such as cost, stigma and confidentiality concerns, the authors wrote.
There is also a need to improve the size, distribution, and capacity of
the mental health workforce, noted Charles Irwin Jr., MD, UCSF professor
of pediatrics.
"Despite the development of virtual platforms for providing mental
health services, the current need for services far exceeds the capacity
to provide them," he said Identification and treatment of mental health symptoms are crucial for promoting young adults' present and future
well-being across the life course, wrote the authors.
Authors: Study co-authors include Jason Schaub, MPH, M. Jane Park, MPH,
and Claire Brindis, DrPH, who are all affiliated with UCSF's National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center; and Jason Nagata,
MD, an assistant professor in UCSF's Department of Pediatrics.
Funding: This study was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) (under #U45MC27709, Adolescent and Young Adult Health Capacity
Building Program), with supplemental support from HRSA grants #UA6MC27378
and T71MC0003, and the American Heart Association Career Development Award (CDA34760281).
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_San_Francisco. Original written by Jess
Berthold. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sally H. Adams, Jason P. Schaub, Jason Nagata, M. Jane Park,
Claire D.
Brindis, Charles E. Irwin. Young Adult Anxiety or Depressive
Symptoms and Mental Health Service Utilization During the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2022; DOI:
10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.02.023 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220413104206.htm
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