Young Adult Anxiety or Depressive Symptoms and Mental Health Service Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Young adult anxiety/depression (mental health) symptoms have increased from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed young adult (aged 18-25 years) anxiety/depressive symptoms, mental health care utilization (prescription drug use, counseling, and/or either), and unmet counseling/therapy needs utilizing the national Household Pulse Survey data from June to July 2021.Methods Young adult (n = 2,809) rates and subgroup differences in mental health symptoms (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 and/or Patient Health Questionnaire-2) were assessed, as were mental health care utilization and unmet counseling/therapy needs.Results In total, 48% of young adults had mental health symptoms. Among those, 39% received treatment and 36% reported unmet mental health counseling/therapy needs.Discussion These findings highlight young adults' ongoing mental health needs and low services receipt. Interventions and further research to reduce barriers to seeking and utilizing mental health care and to increase the capacity of providers to deliver culturally appropriate mental health care are needed.
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Mental health services are few and still underutilized globally.
“However, mental health services are few and still underutilized globally [4-6].”
From Conversational Agent Interventions for Mental Health Problems: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2023) · cites this paper as [6]
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“…in marginalized communities, experience unique stressors that increase their risk for mental health challenges, and the advent of COVID-19 only heightened this vulnerability (Adams et al., 2022; Alegría et al., 2018; Allen et al., 2014; Fortuna et al., 2020; McGorry et al., 2024; Murthy, 2022).”
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“21 Particular attention has been given to changes in mental health among children, 24 but less so among mothers, who represent a critical source of support and resilience for children and families.”
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“These difficulties are common, affecting approximately 20% of young adults (Terlizzi & Villarroel, 2020) and may have increased in prevalence following the COVID-19 pandemic (Adams et al., 2022).”
- Authors
- Adams, S. H., Schaub, J. P., Nagata, J. M., Park, M. J., Brindis, C. D., & Irwin, C. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Corresponding author
- Adams, Sally H.
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-06
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 985-988
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8995928
- OpenAlex
- W4223558207
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 6
- FWCI
- 15.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (T71MC0003, U45MC27709, UA6MC27378)
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- American Heart Association
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- young adults, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, mental health service utilization, unmet mental health needs, access to mental health care, COVID-19 pandemic, counseling and therapy, barriers to treatment
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Humans, Mental Health Services, Young Adult, Pandemics
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