Emerging evidence indicates that the prevalence of child and adolescent psychiatric symptoms and disorders increased in the twenty-first century. However, few studies have focused on recent time trends in the prevalence of anxiety disorders among United States (US) children and adolescents specifically. Relatedly, an open question in the field is what factors are driving increases in reported mental health symptoms and disorders, including anxiety, among US youth. To this end, this study uses data from the National Survey on Children’s Health, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of US parents and caregivers, to assess recent temporal trends in anxiety disorders among US children and adolescents. This study also tests associations between multiple social ecological factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, physical health, family composition, parental mental health, and neighborhood disadvantage) and youth anxiety at each survey year. Overall, results indicated that among US 6 to 17-year-olds the prevalence of parent-reported lifetime anxiety or depression increased from 5.4% to 8.3% between 2003 to 2011/12. The estimated prevalence of parent-reported lifetime anxiety rose from 10.0% to 11.5% between 2016 and 2018 among US children and adolescents aged 6 to 17. The estimated prevalence of parent-reported current anxiety increased from 8.5% to 9.5% between 2016 and 2018. Additionally, several socioecological factors at the individual- and family-level were associated with youth anxiety at each survey year. Results suggest that ongoing collaboration amongst parents/caregivers, physicians, mental health providers, and school staff might help identify at-risk youth, as well as inform the need for effective prevention and intervention strategies and guide best practices for these strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46216 |
| Date | 17 May 2023 |
| Creators | Parodi, Katharine B. |
| Contributors | Holt, Melissa K. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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