Mental health for U.S. children has declined before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic — a substantial break in a trend that has long shown this age group generally reports feelings of happiness and well-being, according to a report in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Children under 18 years reported a slow, steady climb in anxiety and depression from 2016 to 2022. In contrast, incidents of physical health problems, such as asthma, severe headache or migraine, and heart conditions declined or remained the same. The study was based on publicly available data from the National Survey of Children’s Health that were analyzed by researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” Marie Hefferman, a researcher at Northwestern University’s medical school and an author of the paper, said in a press release. “Parents and schools need more support to be better equipped to help children suffering from anxiety or depression,” she said.
