By Nirmita Panchal, Rabah Kamal, Cynthia Cox, et al., Kaiser Family Foundation, May 26, 2021
Introduction
During the COVID-19 pandemic, children have experienced major disruptions as a result of public health safety measures, including school closures, social isolation, financial hardships, and gaps in health care access. Many parents have reported poor mental health outcomes in their children throughout the pandemic – in May 2020, shortly after the pandemic began, 29% said their child’s mental or emotional health was already harmed; more recent research from October 2020 showed that 31% of parents said their child’s mental or emotional health was worse than before the pandemic. Some children have also exhibited increased irritability, clinginess, and fear, and have had issues with sleeping and poor appetite. As mental health issues become more pronounced among children, access to care issues may also be increasing. These access issues may exacerbate existing mental health issues among children.
Even before the pandemic, many children in the United States were living with mental health disorders. On average, in the years 2018 and 2019, among children ages 3-17, 8% (5.2 million) had anxiety disorder, 4% (2.3 million) had depressive disorder, and 9% (5.3 million) had attention deficit disorder or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) (Figure 1). Other mental health disorders among children and adolescents include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders. Adolescents in particular have seen increases in poor mental health outcomes in recent years, such as persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. Many mental health conditions develop by adolescence and, if unaddressed, can persist into adulthood and limit quality of life.
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