Prevalence and correlates of mental health disorders among children & adolescents in US

The purpose of this study was to determine the national prevalence and correlates of currently diagnosed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavioral problems, anxiety and depression among U.S. children aged 3-17 years. Data from the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) was analyzed. Parents/caregivers reported whether their children currently had each mental health condition. Chi square analyses and multivariate logistic regressions were utilized to examine the prevalence of conditions and assess independent associations based on selected sociodemographic characteristics. Weighted prevalence estimates were calculated for the study population (n = 26,572). The study found that 8.6% currently had ADHD, 6.9% currently had behavioral disorders, 8.0% currently had anxiety, 3.7% currently had depression and 16.1% had any of the four conditions. The prevalence of each disorder was higher for older age, Whites (except for behavioral disorders which were higher for Blacks), public insurance, single parent households, children living with non-parents, parent/caregiver mental/emotional health, and non-users of medical home when comparing individuals who had these disorders to those without the disorders. Condition-specific variations were observed. Children with public and private insurance, single parents/non-parents, mentally ill parents and not receiving care in a medical home were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorders. These findings provide the latest data on a broad range of mental health disorders in a nationally representative sample of U.S. children and adolescents and show that these problems are prevalent which highlight the need for prevention and early intervention.