About 25% of adolescents in New York experienced a behavioral health issue in 2022, according to the latest report from Midtown-based nonprofit United Hospital Fund of New York.
The report, released Tuesday, uses national survey data and analytics tools from Boston Consulting Group to track the prevalence of mental health conditions in newborns through 18-year-olds in 2021 and 2022. It shows that more than 300,000 adolescent New Yorkers ages 12-17 experienced at least one issue in the latter year, with many experiencing co-occurring conditions. About 16% of parent survey respondents said their kids, or 232,000 adolescent New Yorkers, experienced anxiety, 15% or 215,000 experienced disordered eating and 8%, or 115,000, experienced depression.
Throughout the state, Black and Hispanic high school students were nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide than white students between 2019 and 2021, the report shows. Disparities were also prevalent in the city, where students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or gender nonconforming were more than four times as likely to attempt suicide in 2021. Analysts found a 42% increase in the rate of adolescents who experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness from 2011 to 2021.
Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the chief executive of the United Hospital Fund, said young New Yorkers’ experiences mirror those of young people throughout the rest of the country. She noted that the prevalence of “alarming” issues like suicide attempts and completed suicides is increasing.
Ahead of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget, which was released earlier this year, a coalition of behavioral health providers pushed the governor to include $195 million to address gaps in the state’s behavioral health system for kids. They argued that the current system is fragmented and underfunded, leading to long waiting lists and young people going without care.
To that end, Dr. Jennifer Havens, the chair of the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Health who worked with the coalition, said the report reinforces why greater investment is needed.
“We clearly don’t have the right structures in place to take care of kids,” she said.
The report shows that 42% of adolescent New Yorkers who needed behavioral health care in 2022 didn’t receive it.
The data can help providers advocate for more solutions to the problem, like raising Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health for kids and adolescents, Havens said.
Jacqueline Neber , 2024-04-18 11:33:05
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