Pre-teen boys showed the greatest struggle with behavioral problems – such as cheating, fighting and stealing – and hyperactive and inattentive behavior in the last six months of 2023. According to the study, 24% of pre-teen boys had mental health problems related to hyperactive and inattentive behaviors, while they score high on behavioral questions compared to the other groups studied.
2. Teenage girls score highest on emotional symptoms associated with poor mental health.
Teenage girls were found to have higher levels of negative mental health outcomes in many areas, but were highest in emotional symptoms, which the study defined as “depressed behaviour, anxiety, nervousness, fears and internalizing symptoms of these emotions’, such as stomachaches and headaches. Teenage girls are also the most likely demographic to struggle in many areas, according to the report.
3. The mental health schools say they offer and what parents report is available don’t match.
According to Rappaport, there was also a discrepancy between what parents said was available in their children’s schools and what schools report nationally as available. The study defined mental health support as “guidelines for counseling therapy, counseling, case management support programs based on specific needs.”
“I suspect there’s a lack of awareness of the services in some of the areas (or) maybe the services are in the schools, but there’s a waiting list and the parent can’t take their child,” Rappaport said.
4. The children most in need of mental health support at school have the least access to it.
The lowest-income families reported the lowest number of mental health services at school, while the highest-income families reported the highest number. However, when asked, only 11% of families with the highest incomes said their children used mental health support provided at school. Conversely, over 50% of the lowest income families reported that their children used mental health services at school. “This pattern is unlikely to reflect a difference in need; families with the highest incomes are more likely to seek out-of-school services,” the report said.
Less than a third of black families reported that their school had mental health support for students, but more than half of white families reported the presence of mental health services in their schools. More research is needed on barriers to mental health services at the local level, Rappaport said. “What one district is struggling with may not be the same as what another district or school is struggling with.”
School mental health support services
Polikov pointed out school mental health services as an important part of meeting the mental health needs of young people, especially for families with limited resources. Because young people spend most of their day at school, “it makes sense to have resources there, especially when parents have so many other stressors, things to worry about and try to do,” said Kelly Davis, vice president on Peer and Youth Advocacy in Mental Health America (MHA), which provides programs to help young people advocate for their mental health and that of their peers. “We know that mental health services are incredibly expensive,” said Davis, who sees school mental health services as an equity issue.
Youth Corps for Mental Healtha public-private partnership between AmeriCorps and several other organizations, launched earlier this year with a plan to train 18- to 24-year-olds to provide mental health services to young people in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.
OneStar FoundationA nonprofit organization partnering with AmeriCorps has helped bring 80 Youth Mental Health Corps members to schools across Texas, one of four states adopting the program for the 2024-2025 school year. According to Jacqueline Kolar, director of OneStar’s national service, one of the goals is to prevent dropout by addressing students’ mental health needs. The Texas Youth Mental Health Corps offers weekly individual and small group sessions for economically disadvantaged students. These in-school sessions help students learn coping strategiesbuilding self-esteem and practice goal settingKolar said.
Teenagers find solutions
For Rishika Rohatgi, the report’s findings are familiar. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rohatgi noticed increased loneliness and isolation among her peers, in addition to the academic, extracurricular and social pressures they were already experiencing as teenagers. So she and a friend started a mental health awareness club at their high school. After participating in their school’s activity fair, 50 students joined. “We saw such a positive response almost immediately,” said Rohatgi, a former NAMI Next Generation Advisor. Although the club did not offer professional mental health services, it created a space for open dialogue between students. “Students really need advocacy that is for students and by them,” she said.
Rohatgi emphasized the importance of creativity when addressing students with mental health issues. For example, on Valentine’s Day, the students in her club decided to write love letters to themselves “to emphasize the traits of themselves that they love.” Rohatgi’s club often found success with activities, such as love letters, that “promote mental health but don’t explicitly say they promote mental health,” she said.
