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5 Key Facts on Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

Despite some modest improvements, many adolescents reported a major depressive episode or anxiety in the past year, while a smaller share reported a substance use disorder.

This brief analyzes the latest data (2024) from the CDC WONDER mortality database and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine the prevalence of adolescent mental health conditions and substance use, related deaths, and access to behavioral health services.

At the Three-Year Mark, Demand for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Continues to Grow

The Impact of Gun Violence on Youth Mental Health and Well-Being

Trends in Child and Adolescent Firearm Deaths

Tracking Key Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Actions Under the Trump Administration

Key CDC Data

Access and coverage

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  • Loneliness and Social Support Networks: Findings from the KFF Survey of Racism, Discrimination and Health 

    Poll Finding

    The issues of loneliness and social isolation gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue to be associated with poor mental and physical health conditions. One in six (15%) adults report feeling always or often lonely in the past year, with the highest shares among young adults ages 18-29. There is a strong relationship between feelings of loneliness, local support networks, and physical and mental health and well-being, but Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults are…

  • Black and Hispanic Adults with Fair or Poor Mental Health Are Less Likely Than White Adults to Say They Received Mental Health Services, Reflecting Cost Concerns and Other Barriers to Care

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis of our 2023 Survey of Racism, Discrimination, and Health finds that Black (39%) and Hispanic (36%) adults who report fair or poor mental health are less likely than White (50%) adults to say they received mental health services in the past three years. Such disparities reflect several barriers to mental health care identified by these adults. In addition to cost concerns and being too busy or not being able to get…

  • Utilization of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ Service

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines performance metrics to assess utilization of 988’s LGBTQ service (which SAMHSA refers to as the LGBTQI+ subnetwork), compared to usage of 988’s main service, from December 2023 to March 2024 (the most current and comprehensive data available). It finds high demand for the specialty services but also certain challenges (e.g. higher call abandonment rates and longer call wait times than for the main 988 service).

  • The Mental Health Crisis Within the Mental Health Crisis

    From Drew Altman

    In his new column, KFF CEO Drew Altman discusses how America’s mental health crisis affects families. The number of families experiencing a serious mental health-related event is large enough to constitute a crisis within the larger mental health crisis.

  • Examining New Medicaid Resources to Expand School-Based Behavioral Health Services

    Issue Brief

    In light of worsening mental health among youth, strategies have been implemented to improve access to behavioral health services in recent years, including expanding school-based care for students. Leveraging Medicaid to improve and address gaps in school-based behavioral health services has been a key strategy in recent years as youth mental health concerns have grown. Provisions from the Safer Communities Act of 2022 utilize Medicaid to expand both school-based health care and other mechanisms of…

  • SUD Treatment in Medicaid: Variation by Service Type, Demographics, States and Spending

    Issue Brief

    Substance use disorders contribute to a growing number of deaths, yet they often go undiagnosed and untreated. While nearly three-quarters of Medicaid enrollees with a diagnosed substance use disorder utilized some type of treatment service in 2020, medication treatment rates varied widely, being much lower for alcohol use disorder than opioid use disorder, and lower among Black enrollees and youth compared to their counterparts. Treatment rates varied considerably across states and average Medicaid spending for…

  • Recent Increases in Firearm Deaths of Children and Adolescents Have Been Driven by Gun Assaults, Black Youths Are Disproportionally Affected

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis of provisional 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that the recent increases in firearm death rates among children and adolescents ages 17 and under were driven largely by gun assaults, which accounted for 66% of firearm deaths among young people in 2022, up from 54% in 2019. Data also show that in 2022, seven children ages 17 and below per day died by firearm, similar to 2021. This…

  • Roughly 1 in 5 Adolescents Report Experiencing Symptoms of Anxiety or Depression

    News Release

    About 1 in 5 adolescents report symptoms of anxiety or depression, according to a KFF analysis of a new federal survey of teen health. While some teens are getting mental health care, a significant share say they are not receiving the therapy they need due to costs, fear of what others will think, and/or not knowing how to get help. Data from the recently released Teen National Health Interview Survey from July 2021 to December…