• Study finds 48 percent of young adults s

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wed Apr 13 22:30:46 2022
    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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