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Surveys suggest that between 4.3% and 11.5% of children living in the United States have a serious emotional disturbance (SED). SED is defined in the Federal Register, and federal block grants are allocated to states based on the prevalence of SED. Accurate measurement of SED is critical, yet surveys have used different methodologies and instrumentation to obtain prevalence estimates. Two expert panels were convened by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the fall of 2014 to discuss the current state of the field in operationalizing and measuring SED. The aims of this article are to (a) provide an update on SED prevalence rates from survey research, (b) summarize key discussion points that emerged during the SAMHSA expert panel meetings, and (c) make specific recommendations for next steps in measuring the prevalence of SED. Issues addressed in this article are important not only for federal allocation of service dollars to meet the needs of children with SED, but also for broader mental health surveillance efforts within the context of large national research surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental disorders among children are described as "serious deviations from expected cognitive, social, and emotional development" (US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, and National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health; 1999). These disorders are an important public health issue in the United States because of their prevalence, early onset, and impact on the child, family, and community, with an estimated total annual cost of $247 billion. A total of 13%-20% of children living in the United States experience a mental disorder in a given year, and surveillance during 1994-2011 has shown the prevalence of these conditions to be increasing. Suicide, which can result from the interaction of mental disorders and other factors, was the second leading cause of death among children aged 12-17 years in 2010. Surveillance efforts are critical for documenting the impact of mental disorders and for informing policy, prevention, and resource allocation. This report summarizes information about ongoing federal surveillance systems that can provide estimates of the prevalence of mental disorders and indicators of mental health among children living in the United States, presents estimates of childhood mental disorders and indicators from these systems during 2005-2011, explains limitations, and identifies gaps in information while presenting strategies to bridge those gaps. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (6.8%) was the most prevalent parent-reported current diagnosis among children aged 3-17 years, followed by behavioral or conduct problems (3.5%), anxiety (3.0%), depression (2.1%), autism spectrum disorders (1.1%), and Tourette syndrome (0.2% among children aged 6-17 years). An estimated 4.7% of adolescents aged 12-17 years reported an illicit drug use disorder in the past year, 4.2% had an alcohol abuse disorder in the past year, and 2.8% had cigarette dependence in the past month. The overall suicide rate for persons aged 10-19 years was 4.5 suicides per 100,000 persons in 2010. Approximately 8% of adolescents aged 12-17 years reported ≥14 mentally unhealthy days in the past month. Future surveillance of mental disorders among children should include standard case definitions of mental disorders to ensure comparability and reliability of estimates across surveillance systems, better document the prevalence of mental disorders among preschool-age children, and include additional conditions such as specific anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder. Standard surveillance case definitions are needed to reliably categorize and count mental disorders among surveillance systems, which will provide a more complete picture of the prevalence of mental disorders among children. More comprehensive surveillance is needed to develop a public health approach that will both help prevent mental disorders and promote mental health among children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The high-risk family study is a powerful design that facilitates identification of early forms of expression of depression and premorbid vulnerability, risk, and protective factors that are important for defining prevention targets and program foci. This paper (1) highlights the strengths of high-risk studies for informing early intervention efforts; (2) summarizes findings of familial aggregation from controlled high-risk studies of depression; and (3) briefly reviews evidence for potential mediators (i.e., early forms of expression, vulnerability factors) that explain familial risk and for moderators (i.e., interactive risk and protective factors) that enhance or minimize familial risk. New data from the Yale High-Risk Study of Comorbidity of Substance Use and Affective Disorders are presented to exemplify strategies for identifying specific familial pathways to depression among offspring of parents with substance and anxiety disorders. Likewise, parental depression is associated with a range of emotional and behavioral problems, including anxiety and conduct disorder, in their offspring. These nonspecific effects, together with emerging findings on mechanisms of risk, support early intervention efforts that target a range of youth at risk for depression through multipronged approaches that attend to the individual characteristics of the child and parent, clinical comorbidity, and the broader family and social context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study regarding the prevalence and comorbidity of social phobia in the U.S. The study examines the differences in the rates and features of social phobia across the proposed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) social phobia subtypes. It conducts a survey of 10,123 adolescents 13 to 18 years of age in the nation. It revealed that 9 percent of adolescents met criteria for any social phobia in their lifetime.

Mental disorders among children are described as "serious deviations from expected cognitive, social, and emotional development" (US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, and National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health; 1999). These disorders are an important public health issue in the United States because of their prevalence, early onset, and impact on the child, family, and community, with an estimated total annual cost of $247 billion. A total of 13%-20% of children living in the United States experience a mental disorder in a given year, and surveillance during 1994-2011 has shown the prevalence of these conditions to be increasing. Suicide, which can result from the interaction of mental disorders and other factors, was the second leading cause of death among children aged 12-17 years in 2010. Surveillance efforts are critical for documenting the impact of mental disorders and for informing policy, prevention, and resource allocation. This report summarizes information about ongoing federal surveillance systems that can provide estimates of the prevalence of mental disorders and indicators of mental health among children living in the United States, presents estimates of childhood mental disorders and indicators from these systems during 2005-2011, explains limitations, and identifies gaps in information while presenting strategies to bridge those gaps.