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In March 2021, the Governor of Washington declared a youth mental health crisis. State data revealed high rates of youth suicide and inadequate access to services. This study aims to ascertain the kinds of support across the mental health care continuum recommended by young people and key stakeholders who could assist with implementation in Seattle. We interviewed 15 key informants to identify the contextual, structural, and individual-level factors that increase the risk of poor mental health and deter access to care among youth. We complimented these data with a 25-item survey of 117 participants in King County to assess the feasibility and acceptability of interventions for youth mental health. We conducted a deductive thematic qualitative analysis of the interviews and performed descriptive analyses of the quantitative data, using t-tests and χ2 tests to summarize and compare participant characteristics stratified by age group. Qualitative informants attributed challenges to youth mental health to social isolation and relational problems. Example interventions included creating environments that increase belonging and implementation of culturally congruent mental health services. Quantitative study participants rated all evidence-based mental health interventions presented as highly acceptable. However, youth preferred interventions promoting social connectedness, peer support, and holistic approaches to care, while non-youth preferred interventions focused on suicide, and substance abuse prevention. Key informants and survey participants identified schools as the most important setting for mental health interventions. There were no significant differences among quantitative outcomes. Our findings highlight the need for interventions that reduce isolation and increase social connectedness to support youth mental health. As the city designs youth responsive interventions, schools and digital platforms should be prioritized. Engaging multiple stakeholders, particularly young people, tackling cultural stigma surrounding mental health, and improving access to safe community spaces are important considerations for youth mental health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Research indicates that sexual and gender minority youth [SGMY] may engage more with information communication technologies [ICTs] more than their non-SGMY counterparts Craig SL et al. 2020. While scholarship generally explores youth's use of ICTs, there are gaps in scholarship that connect SGMY, their ICT engagement and influences to mental health. This scoping review will synthesize the literature that connects these core concepts in order to better understand the influence ITCs have on the mental health of SGMY and to develop a more fulsome understanding of this emerging area of literature. Methods and analysis: Following the scoping review framework of Arksey and O'Malley, the search will be conducted in the PsycINFO [Ovid interface, 1980-], MEDLINE [Ovid interface, 1948-], CINAHL [EBSCO interface, 1937-], Sociological Abstracts [ProQuest interface, 1952-], Social Services Abstracts [ProQuest interface, 1979-], and Scopus. Descriptive summaries and thematic analysis will summarize the articles that meet the inclusion criteria using an extraction table. Ethics and dissemination: The review outlined in this paper provides an overview of information that exists on the technology use of SGMY, ICTs and the interconnection with mental health. Results will be disseminated through peer reviewed journals and national and international conferences. As information collected for this paper as is retrieved from publicly available sources, ethics approval is not required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the rationale, design and methods of an effectiveness-implementation hybrid type I randomized trial of eHealth Familias Unidas Mental Health, a family-based, online delivered intervention for Hispanic families to prevent/reduce depressive and anxious symptoms, suicide ideation/behaviors, and drug use in Hispanic youth. Utilizing a rollout design with 18 pediatric primary care clinics and 468 families, this study addresses intervention effectiveness, implementation research questions, and intervention sustainment, to begin bridging the gap between research and practice in eliminating mental health and drug use disparities among Hispanic youth. Further, we will examine whether intervention effects are partially mediated by improved family communication and reduced externalizing behaviors, including drug use, and moderated by parental depression. Finally, we will explore whether the intervention's impact on mental health and drug use, as well as sustainment of the intervention in clinics, varies by quality of implementation at clinic and clinician levels. Trail registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05426057, First posted June 21, 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of evidence suggests that young people, including those at the crucial transition points between 16 and 24, now face severe mental health challenges. In this article, we analyse data from 10 waves of a major UK longitudinal household cohort study, Understanding Society, to examine the relationship between income and anxiety and depression among 16- to 24-year-olds. Using random effects logistic regression (Model 1) allowing for whether the individual was depressed in the previous period as well as sex, age, ethnicity, whether the individual was born in the UK, region, rurality, highest qualification, marital status, employment status and attrition, we find a significant and inversely monotonic adjusted association between average net equivalised household income quintiles and clinical threshold levels of depressive symptoms SF-12 Mental Component Summary (MCS score ≤45.6). This means that being in a higher income group is associated with a reduced likelihood of clinically significant depressive symptoms, allowing for observable confounding variables. Using a 'within-between' model (Model 2), we find that apart from among those with the very highest incomes, increases in average net equivalised household income over the course of childhood and adolescence are significantly associated with reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression as measured by a higher SF-12 MCS score. Compared with previous reviews, the data presented here provides an estimate of the magnitude of effect that helps facilitate microsimulation modelling of impact on anxiety and depression from changes in socioeconomic circumstances. This enables a more detailed and complete understanding of the types of socioeconomic intervention that might begin to address some of the causes of youth mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This review aims to explore the existing literature about the virtue of helping others and its association with youth mental health. Mental health of youth is rooted in their social environment. Helping others or engaging in prosocial behavior are activities that youth may participate in. The notion of helping others and its association with individual mental well-being have been well-studied for adults and older adults and to some extent in youth, however, no review has been conducted to understand the intersection of helping others and mental health in the youth population. Methods: This review will consider all study designs that examine helping others and mental health of youth. The inclusion criteria for the review will include young individuals aged 10-24-year-old, living in any geographic location, of all gender identities, and with or without mental health issues. Grey literature and studies that only speak to outcomes related to physical well-being will be excluded. A search will be conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. Studies published in the English language will be included with no restriction on publication time period. Articles will be screened against the inclusion criteria onto a single software by two independent reviewers. In the case of any disagreement, a third independent reviewer would resolve the conflict. Findings: Data will be extracted and presented in a tabular or diagrammatic form supported by a summary. We will report our findings in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The findings of this review will provide evidence-based recommendations for promoting youth mental health and a basis for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Most previous research place great importance on the influence of family and maternal background on child and adolescents' mental health. However, age of onset studies indicates that the majority of the mental health disease prevalence occurs during the youth years. This study investigates the relationship of family and maternal background, as well as individual circumstance on youth mental health status. Method: Data from 975 participants and 4632 observations of aged cohort 15 to 19 years in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) longitudinal study were followed for 10 years (2007–2017). Multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyse the impact of youth circumstances on mental health status. Results: The findings suggests that not all dimensions of family and maternal background (especially maternal education) have impacts on youth mental health. We found low household income (AOR: 1.572, 95% CI: 1.017–2.43) and adverse living arrangement (AOR: 1.586, 95% CI: 1.097–2.294) significantly increases mental disorder odds whereas maternal education or occupation fixed effects were not significant. Individual level circumstances have much stronger impact on youth mental health. We found financial shock (AOR: 1.412, 95% CI: 1.277–1.561), life event shock (AOR: 1.157, 95% CI: 1.01–1.326), long term health conditions (AOR: 2.855, 95% CI: 2.042–3.99), smoking (AOR: 1.676, 95% CI: 1.162–2.416), drinking (AOR: 1.649, 95% CI: 1.286–2.114) and being female (AOR: 2.021, 95% CI: 1.431–2.851) have significant deteriorating effects on youth mental health. Conclusions: Our finding is in contrast to the majority of studies in the literature which give a preeminent role to maternal characteristics in child and youth mental health status. Mental health interventions should consider heterogeneity of adverse youth circumstances and health-related behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced novel stressors into the lives of youth. Identifying factors that protect against the onset of psychopathology in the face of these stressors is critical. We examine a wide range of factors that may protect youth from developing psychopathology during the pandemic. We assessed pandemic-related stressors, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and potential protective factors by combining two longitudinal samples of children and adolescents (N = 224, 7–10 and 13–15 years) assessed prior to the pandemic, during the stay-at-home orders, and six months later. We evaluated how family behaviors during the stay-at-home orders were related to changes in psychopathology during the pandemic, identified factors that moderate the association of pandemic-related stressors with psychopathology, and determined whether associations varied by age. Internalizing and externalizing psychopathology increased substantially during the pandemic. Higher exposure to pandemic-related stressors was associated with increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms early in the pandemic and six months later. Having a structured routine, less passive screen time, lower exposure to news media about the pandemic, and to a lesser extent more time in nature and getting adequate sleep were associated with reduced psychopathology. The association between pandemic-related stressors and psychopathology was reduced for youths with limited passive screen time and was absent for children, but not adolescents, with lower news media consumption related to the pandemic. We provide insight into simple, practical steps families can take to promote resilience against mental health problems in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic and protect against psychopathology following pandemic-related stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to provide a detailed description of the Youth and Mental Health Study (YAMHS),a population-based, representative (cluster sampling), prospective cohort study that was conducted to investigate risk and resilience factors for mental health conditions, specifically depressive symptoms and disorders, from adolescence to adulthood. The baseline data were collected in 1998 (T1) in two counties in central Norway from 2464 adolescents (response rate 88.3%, mean age 13.7 years). The first follow-up was conducted in 1999 (T2) (n = 2432, response rate of 87.1%, mean age 14.9 years). A subgroup of individuals was assessed at T2 (n = 345) with clinical interviews, and this subgroup was reassessed in 2005 (T3) (n = 265, 70.1%, 20 years). The last follow-up (of participants assessed at T1 and T2) was conducted in 2012 (T4) (n = 1266, 51.9%, 27.2 years). Demographics, depressive symptoms, general psychopathology, suicidal ideation and attempts and psychological and somatic factors were recorded. Among adolescents of both sexes, psychosocial variables were correlated with and predicted depressive symptom severity. The strongest predictors were sex (female), the levels of depressive symptoms the preceding year, and the total number of stressful events. The association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms was moderated by physical activity, while the relationship between stressful events and coping style was mediated by depressive symptoms. The rate of use of specialised mental health services among the depressed was low. The lifetime prevalence of depressive disorders was 23% at 15 years, and the most common disorder was minor depression. Adolescents who attempted suicide were more often victims of violence and less resilient than were non-suicide attempters. The existing longitudinal data from the cohort will be further analysed. Follow-up data will be obtained from existing national registries by links created with individual identification numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Then aims of the current study were 1) to provide cross-national estimates of the prevalence of physical fighting and weapon carrying among adolescents aged 11–15 years; (2) To examine the possible effects of physical fighting and weapon carrying on the occurrence of physical (medically treated injuries) and emotional health outcomes (multiple health complaints) among adolescents within the theoretical framework of Problem Behaviour Theory. 20,125 adolescents aged 11–15 in five countries (Belgium, Israel, USA, Canada, FYR Macedonia) were surveyed via the 2006 Health Behaviour in School Aged Children survey. Prevalence was calculated for physical fighting and weapon carrying along with physical and emotional measures that potentially result from violence. Regression analyses were used to quantify associations between violence/weapon carrying and the potential health consequences within each country. Large variations in fighting and weapon carrying were observed across countries. Boys reported more frequent episodes of fighting/weapon carrying and medically attended injuries in every country, while girls reported more emotional symptoms. Although there were some notable variations in findings between different participating countries, increased weapon carrying and physical fighting were both independently and consistently associated with more frequent reports of the potential health outcomes. Adolescents engaging in fighting and weapon carrying are also at risk for physical and emotional health outcomes. Involvement in fighting and weapon carrying can be seen as part of a constellation of risk behaviours with obvious health implications. Our findings also highlight the importance of the cultural context when examining the nature of violent behaviour for adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]