There is a major divide between how much support American teens say they need and how much their parents say they believe kids are getting. It’s a grim observation that comes at a tough time for the country’s youth.
A new report, published Tuesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, revealed that 41.5% of teens surveyed in 2021 said they did not always or did not usually receive the social and emotional support they needed. Parents were not always in the know about their teen’s mental health status.
“Parents consistently reported higher perceived levels of their teenager’s social and emotional support compared with the teenager’s self-report,” according to the study.
“Overall, and for all subgroups, parents were more likely to report that their teenager always or usually received the support they needed compared with their teenager’s perception of if they always or usually received the support they needed,” according to the report. “The overall prevalence ratio comparing parents with their teenagers was 1.59, ranging from 1.40 among Asian teenagers and their parents to 2.27 among Black teenagers and their parents. Parents of sexual or gender minority teenagers also overestimated their teenager’s perceived support, reporting more than double the amount of support than their teenagers reported (prevalence ratio of 2.11).”
Overall, 27.5% of teenagers said they always received the support they needed, while 31% usually did. An addition, 21.7% said they only sometimes felt supported, 12.5% rarely experienced support and 7.4% never did.
“Black teenagers (42.3%) were less likely than both Asian (60.8%) and White (66.3%) teenagers to have always or usually received support,” the report said. “Hispanic teenagers (49.6%) were also less likely than White teenagers to have always or usually received support, but the observed difference with Asian teenagers was not significant. Sexual or gender minority teenagers (43.9%) were less likely to have always or usually received support compared with teenagers who were not a sexual or gender minority (63.5%).”
When you look at the numbers on teen mental health, things don’t always add up for the best. Millions of teens suffer from poor mental health every year in theUnited States, roughly 1 in 6 people between the ages of 6 and 17. Yet in 2016, only 50.6% of those people received treatment — a grim statistic considering suicide is the second leading cause of death among kids 10-14 years old.
Half of lifetime mental disorders begin by age 14. Then there’s the pandemic, which introduced a whole new bevy of stressors to teen life. In 2021, 13% of young adults 18-25 seriously considered suicide. For children ages 12 to 17, there was a 31% increase in mental health-related emergency department visits that same year. Following the pandemic, alcohol and drug use were also both up among young adults and adolescents.
According to the Center for Parent and Teen Communication, parents can focus on five practices when supporting their teen’s mental health. Parents should practice expressing love in a clear way, while still setting boundaries for their kid. Talk with your teen, and focus on being a “good sounding board” by helping them feel safe in expressing their feelings.
It’s also important to watch out for common signs of anxiety and depression, such as emotional outbursts. Teach your child healthy coping and stress management mechanisms. Last, acknowledge the external forces your teen might be facing, such as cyberbullying.
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