TABLE 12. Weighted prevalence estimates of receipt of mental health treatment, services, and medication among children and adolescents aged 3‒17 years, by sociodemographic characteristics — four surveillance systems, United States, 2013–2019.
| Characteristic | Mental health treatment, professional* |
Mental health consultation, professional† |
Mental health consultation, general physician§ |
Mental health services¶ |
Past year medication for mental health problems** |
Current medication for mental health problems†† |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSCH 2016–2019 |
NHIS 2017–2018 |
NHANES 2013–2018 |
NHIS 2017–2018 |
NSDUH 2018–2019 |
NSCH 2016–2019 |
NHANES 2013–2018 |
|
| % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | |
|
Age group (yrs)
|
3–17 |
3–17 |
4–17 |
3–17 |
12‒17 |
3–17 |
3–17 |
|
Sample size (no.)
|
114,476 |
14,287 |
8,071 |
13,440 |
33,678 |
114,476 |
8,637 |
|
Total
|
10.1 (9.8‒10.5)
|
9.6 (9.0‒10.2)
|
9.8 (8.6‒11.2)
|
5.2 (4.8‒5.7)
|
25.9 (25.3–26.5)
|
7.8 (7.5‒8.1)
|
6.6 (5.7‒7.7)
|
|
Characteristic
| |||||||
|
Age group (yrs)
| |||||||
| 3–5 |
2.6 (2.2‒3.1) |
4.0 (3.1‒5.2) |
4.7 (3.2‒6.5) |
3.8 (3.0‒4.9) |
NA |
1.0 (0.7‒1.4) |
1.2 (0.6‒2.0) |
| 6–11 |
9.5 (9.0‒10.0) |
9.5 (8.6‒10.5) |
9.8 (8.3‒11.4) |
5.5 (4.9‒6.3) |
NA |
7.2 (6.7‒7.6) |
7.1 (5.9‒8.5) |
| 12–17 |
14.3 (13.7‒15.0) |
12.4 (11.5‒13.4) |
11.5 (9.8‒13.5) |
5.6 (5.0‒6.3) |
25.9 (25.3–26.5) |
11.6 (11.1‒12.2) |
8.7 (7.0‒10.7) |
|
Sex
| |||||||
| Male |
10.6 (10.1‒11.1) |
10.6 (9.8‒11.5) |
10.9 (9.5‒12.5) |
6.0 (5.3‒6.7) |
21.3 (20.5–22.1) |
9.5 (9.0‒9.9) |
8.5 (7.3‒9.8) |
| Female |
9.6 (9.1‒10.1) |
8.6 (7.8‒9.4) |
8.7 (7.3‒10.3) |
4.5 (3.9‒5.0) |
30.6 (29.7–31.5) |
6.0 (5.6‒6.4) |
4.7 (3.6‒6.0) |
|
Race/Ethnicity§§
| |||||||
| Hispanic |
8.7 (7.8‒9.6) |
6.7 (5.8‒7.8) |
7.4 (5.6‒9.6) |
4.2 (3.5‒5.1) |
24.6 (23.3–26.0) |
5.3 (4.6‒6.0) |
2.9 (1.9‒4.1) |
| Black, non-Hispanic |
9.8 (8.8‒10.9) |
7.6 (6.2‒9.2) |
8.8 (7.4‒10.4) |
4.8 (3.7‒6.2) |
25.6 (24.0–27.2) |
8.7 (7.7‒9.8) |
4.1 (3.0‒5.5) |
| White, non-Hispanic |
11.4 (11.0‒11.8) |
11.9 (11.1‒12.8) |
11.4 (9.5‒13.5) |
6.2 (5.6‒6.9) |
27.1 (26.3–27.9) |
9.2 (8.9‒9.6) |
9.1 (7.6‒10.8) |
| Asian, non-Hispanic |
4.3 (3.5‒5.4) |
3.9 (2.7‒5.6) |
4.5 (2.8‒6.8) |
1.9 (1.1‒3.3) |
18.5 (15.8–21.4) |
1.9 (1.4‒2.5) |
1.3 (0.5‒2.8) |
|
FPL¶¶
| |||||||
| ≤100% FPL |
11.0 (10.1‒12.1) |
9.6 (8.2‒11.2) |
11.3 (9.3‒13.6) |
6.3 (5.2‒7.7) |
26.8 (25.4–28.2) |
8.8 (8.0‒9.7) |
7.2 (5.6‒9.2) |
| >100% to ≤200% FPL |
9.8 (9.0‒10.7) |
9.7 (8.5‒11.0) |
11.0 (8.9‒13.5) |
5.8 (4.9‒6.8) |
25.1 (23.9–26.4) |
8.0 (7.3‒8.8) |
6.3 (4.9‒8.1) |
| >200% FPL |
9.9 (9.5‒10.3) |
9.6 (8.9‒10.3) |
9.4 (7.8‒11.3) |
4.7 (4.2‒5.3) |
25.8 (25.0–26.7) |
7.3 (7.0‒7.6) |
7.0 (6.6‒10.0) |
|
Highest level of parent education***
| |||||||
| Less than high school |
8.7 (7.3‒10.4) |
6.5 (5.1‒8.4) |
6.2 (4.5‒8.3) |
4.6 (3.4‒6.1) |
NA |
7.7 (6.2‒9.4) |
3.4 (1.8‒5.8) |
| High school graduate |
9.8 (9.0‒10.8) |
8.1 (6.8‒9.5) |
12.5 (9.9‒15.6) |
4.4 (3.5‒5.5) |
NA |
8.6 (7.8‒9.4) |
8.2 (5.9‒11.0) |
| More than high school |
10.4 (10.0‒10.7) |
10.0 (9.4‒10.8) |
10.0 (8.5‒11.7) |
5.3 (4.8‒5.9) |
NA |
7.6 (7.3‒7.8) |
7.0 (5.9‒8.3) |
|
Health insurance†††
| |||||||
| Yes |
|
||||||
| Any public |
13.1 (12.4‒13.9) |
11.4 (10.4‒12.4) |
13.0 (11.2‒15.1) |
6.6 (5.9‒7.5) |
27.6 (26.5–28.6) |
10.4 (9.8‒11.1) |
8.6 (7.0‒10.4) |
| Any private |
9.4 (9.0‒9.7) |
8.5 (7.6‒9.5) |
7.7 (6.2‒9.4) |
4.5 (3.8‒5.3) |
25.5 (24.7–26.3) |
7.1 (6.8‒7.5) |
5.6 (4.4‒7.1) |
| No insurance |
5.8 (4.7‒7.1) |
5.5 (3.8‒8.0) |
4.1 (1.9‒7.6)§§§ |
3.0 (2.0‒4.5) |
19.8 (17.1–22.9) |
4.9 (3.9‒6.3) |
0.9 (0.2‒2.4) |
|
Geographic classification¶¶¶
| |||||||
| Urban/Suburban |
9.9 (9.5‒10.4) |
9.5 (8.9‒10.2) |
NA |
5.1 (4.7‒5.6) |
26.1 (25.4–26.8) |
7.4 (7.1‒7.8) |
NA |
| Rural | 10.2 (9.4‒11.1) | 10.3 (8.9‒12.0) | NA | 6.0 (4.9‒7.3) | 24.5 (23.2–25.9) | 10.3 (9.4‒11.1) | NA |
Abbreviations: FPL = federal poverty level; NA = not available; NHANES = National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; NHIS = National Health Interview Survey; NSCH = National Survey of Children’s Health; NSDUH = National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
* “During the past 12 months, has this child received any treatment or counseling from a mental health professional?“
† NHIS: “During the past 12 months, have you seen or talked to...a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, or clinical social worker...about child's health?“ NHANES: “During the past 12 months, has the child seen or talked to a mental health professional such as a psychologist, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse or clinical social worker about their health?“
§ “Did you see or talk to this general doctor because of an emotional or behavioral problem that [child] may have?“
¶ Receipt of specialty and nonspecialty mental health services.
** “During the past 12 months, has this child taken any medication because of difficulties with his or her emotions, concentration, or behavior?“
†† Use of psychotherapeutic agents in past 30 days.
§§ Estimates exclude other race and ethnicity groups that did not have a large enough sample size to produce stable estimates.
¶¶ For NSCH and NHIS, FPL is based on family income and family size using the Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds for the previous calendar year. Imputed income files were used to impute family income when it was not provided, and for NSCH, family size was imputed using other information about the household when the number of family members was not provided (https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html). NSDUH only imputes family size when exact counts cannot be determined from the household roster. NHANES uses the US Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines in calculating the FPLs (also known as the family income to poverty ratio) and does not impute missing incomes.
*** The highest level of parent education is based on the highest education level among up to two adults who were identified as primary caregivers in the survey. For NHANES, education of household reference person and spouse of household reference person (most often primary caregiver of youth).
††† Private included any insurance from an employer or union, directly purchased, TRICARE or other military health care, or the Affordable Care Act; coverage from any government assistance plan was considered public, including Medicaid or other state-sponsored health plans including the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Respondents who indicated both public and private insurance coverage were represented in both subcategories.
§§§ Estimate did not meet all NCHS data presentation standards (CI width >5, relative CI width >130) and should be interpreted with caution.
¶¶¶ Method for determining geographic classification differed by survey. NSCH: 2010 Office of Management and Budget metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas standards (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2010-06-28/pdf/2010-15605.pdf). Urban/suburban includes metropolitan statistical areas associated with at least one urbanized area of at least 50,000 population; rural was defined as counties that were not part of a metropolitan statistical area; NHIS: 2013 NCHS urban/rural classification (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_166.pdf). Urban/suburban includes large metropolitan, medium metropolitan, and small metropolitan areas, whereas rural includes nonmetropolitan areas with >50,000 population; NSDUH: Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/). Urban/suburban includes large metropolitan, medium metropolitan, and small metropolitan areas; rural includes nonmetropolitan counties.