Children In Wisconsin Are In A Mental Health Pandemic: Report

WISCONSIN — The toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on America's youth has become a pandemic in its own right, affecting an increasing number of children aged 3-17 in Wisconsin, new data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed.

The organization focused on the mental health effects of the pandemic in its newly released 2022 Kids Count Data Book of state trends in childhood well-being, concurring with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s assessment of a mental health pandemic among America’s youth.

The change is stark.

Children ages 3-17 in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia were more likely to feel anxious or depressed during the first year of the pandemic than previously, according to the Casey Foundation Report.

Nationally, 26 percent of kids in that age group (7.3 million) reported those feelings in 2020, compared with 9.7 percent (5.8 million) in 2016. That represents an increase of 1.5 million children who are struggling to make it through the day, according to the Casey Foundation’s analysis of the Department of Health and Human Services’ 2016 and 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health reports

In Wisconsin, the percent of kids ages 3-17 who had anxiety or depression increased to 15.6 percent in 2020, up from 12.5 percent in 2016.

But the increase in anxiety and depression comes as Wisconsin earned high marks for overwell child well-being. Nationally, the Top 10 states are:

1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. Vermont
6. New Jersey
7. Connecticut
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Wisconsin

The same goes for economic well-being in Wisconsin, with the state again earning a spot in the nation's Top 10:

1. Nebraska
2. North Dakota
3. Minnesota
4. New Hampshire
5. Iowa
6. Utah
7. Wyoming
8. Kansas
9. Wisconsin
10. South Dakota

Again, Wisconsin came in high up for education. The top 10 education states are:

1. New Jersey
2. Massachusetts
3. Connecticut
4. New Hampshire
5. Vermont
6. Virginia
7. Pennsylvania
8. Wisconsin
9. Minnesota
10. Utah

When it came to health, the trend breaks for Wisconsin placing in the top ten. But it earned a spot among the top still, coming in at No. 15. The Top 10 states in that measure of childhood well-being are:

1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Vermont
4. Minnesota
5. Hawaii
6. Washington
7. California
8. Connecticut
9. New Jersey
10. Utah

Wisconsin ranked No. 19 in the “family and community” category. The Top 10 states in that category are:

1. Utah
2. New Hampshire
3. Vermont
4. Maine
5. North Dakota
6. Wyoming
7. Montana
8. Minnesota
9. Idaho
10. Massachusetts

The Casey Foundation focused on mental health this year because it “is just as impor­tant as phys­i­cal health in a child’s abil­i­ty to thrive,” Lisa Hamil­ton, pres­i­dent and CEO of the Casey Foun­da­tion, said in a news release.

“As our nation con­tin­ues to nav­i­gate the fall­out from the COVID-19 cri­sis, pol­i­cy­mak­ers must do more to ensure all kids have access to the care and sup­port they need to cope and live full lives,” she said.

Kids felt the effects of the pandemic both physically and emotionally. The U.S. death toll to COVID-19 eclipsed 1 million in May, including more than 1,600 children. Another 200,000 kids lost a parent or primary caregiver.

Racial and ethnic disparities contribute to disproportionately trou­bling men­tal health and well­ness con­di­tions among chil­dren of col­or, according to the report.

Nine per­cent of high-school­ers over­all but 12 percent of Black stu­dents, 13 percent of stu­dents of two or more races and 26 percent of Amer­i­can Indi­an or Native Alaskan high-school­ers attempt­ed sui­cide in the year pri­or to the most recent fed­er­al sur­vey.

Fur­ther, many LGBTQ young peo­ple are encoun­ter­ing chal­lenges as they seek men­tal health sup­port. Among het­ero­sex­u­al high school stu­dents of all races and eth­nic­i­ties, 6 percent attempt­ed sui­cide; the share was 23 percent for gay, les­bian or bisex­u­al students.

The economic uncertainty of the pandemic had an outsized effect on children whose families were already having trouble making ends meet. Children who live in poverty, whose parents lack secure jobs and children whose parents have high housing costs take on their parents’ economic stress, according to the report.

Again, children of color are disproportionately affected. For example:

• 17 percent of chil­dren of all back­grounds live in pover­ty, but among African Amer­i­can and Amer­i­can Indi­an chil­dren, that pro­por­tion is close to a third, at 32 percent and 31 percent respectively;

• 27 percent of all chil­dren have par­ents lack­ing secure employ­ment, but that num­ber goes up to 44 percent and 41 percent for Amer­i­can Indi­an and African Amer­i­can children, respectively;

• Latino children also face a higher burden in these two categories than their white counterparts.

It’s a tough time to be a kid, but also a parent, according to the report.

Nearly a quarter of parents with children ages 6-17 said their child had been bullied in the previous year. About 1 in 5 kids struggled to make friends.

About 35 percent of parents of children in that age group said they had some level of concern or anxiety about the safety of their neighborhoods. A third of them reported food insecurity and said they could not always afford nutritious meals.

A quarter of parents said they had no one to turn to for emotional support while raising their children, and a third said they were doing only somewhat well or not very well handling the demands of parenting, further contributing to household anxiety.

Most distressingly, the Casey Foundation said, 2,553 children ages 10 to 19 died by suicide in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The problems reported by parents and children were increasing before the pandemic. In 2019, 9 percent of high schoolers attempted suicide.

That’s “an alarmingly high number that should concern us all,” the report said, but more alarming still was the rate among American Indian and Alaska Native high schoolers — 25 percent. Among high school students who identify with two more races, the rate was 13 percent, and among their Black peers, the rate was 12 percent.

The 2019 suicide rate was 6 percent among heterosexual high school students of any race or ethnicity. Among LGBTQ students, the rate was 23 percent.

The report noted that a 2022 survey of LGBTQ people ages 13 to 24 said they wanted mental health care, but didn’t access it for a variety of reasons. For example:

• 48 percent said they were afraid to discuss their concerns,
• 45 percent said they had concerns about their ability to obtain permission to access care,
• 43 percent feared they wouldn’t be taken seriously, 41 percent said they couldn’t afford care,
• 26 percent said they feared their sexual identity would be misunderstood, and
• 21 percent said they lacked a way to get to a treatment site.

The Casey Foundation joined the surgeon general in calling for the development of more programs addressing the increasing mental health burdens, including prioritizing kids who grow up in poverty to ensure they have access to nutritious food, stable housing and safe neighborhoods.

Other recommendations include increasing mental health services at schools, and bolstering mental health services specifically tailored to children’s experiences and identities.