October 9, 2023 – About one in five U.S. adolescents experienced clinical depression in 2021, the primary full 12 months of the pandemic, but fewer than half received treatment for the mental illness.
Latino and biracial adolescents have the best rates of depression but are least more likely to receive treatment. Results were published this week in JAMA Pediatrics and supply one of the vital comprehensive pictures of the already well-documented mental health crisis amongst teens that flared up through the pandemic.
One of the study's goals was to look at whether there are differences within the prevalence of major depressive disorder amongst adolescents of various racial or ethnic groups, the authors wrote. They also examined how likely adolescents are to receive treatment for major depression. For the study, adolescents were defined as young people ages 12 to 17.
The researchers examined survey data from greater than 10,000 U.S. adolescents who participated within the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2021. They found that adolescents from multiracial or ethnic groups had the best rates of major depressive disorder. Specifically, the evaluation showed that major depressive disorder occurred in the next individuals:
- About 27% of adolescents who reported being of multiple race or ethnicity reported having major depressive disorder.
- About 23% of Latin American youth
- About 20% of white youth.
- About 15% of black youth.
- About 15% of Asian youth.
Meanwhile, only 29 percent of Latino adolescents and 21 percent of multiracial adolescents reported receiving treatment for his or her major depressive disorder, the bottom rate of any racial or ethnic group examined within the study. Latino adolescents were also the least more likely to receive treatment for his or her major depressive disorder from a clinical provider or psychiatrist, and so they were the least likely of all groups to be prescribed medication.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is also known as clinical depression or just depression. Symptoms can vary but typically include sadness and a lack of interest in activities that were once enjoyable. Some people experience sleep disturbances, changes in appetite, fatigue and other physical changes. To diagnose depression, symptoms must last at the very least two weeks, based on the American Psychiatric Association.
“The high rate of MDD may be attributed in part to the emotional stress and trauma caused by the pandemic, which has affected adolescents overall but particularly members of racial and ethnic minority groups due to the disproportionately high rate of COVID-19-related illness and death,” the authors write.
They also suspected that the high depression rate could have been influenced by low utilization of mental health services and barriers to treatment, corresponding to poor access to mental health take care of individuals with public insurance corresponding to Medicaid. Only about 40% of psychiatrists accept Medicaid, the researchers found.
“These findings suggest that U.S. federal policies should target youth in general and racial and ethnic minorities in particular to ensure timely and equitable access to high-quality mental health treatment,” the authors write.