Time trends and disparities in anxiety among adolescents, 2012–2018

Purpose Prior studies have been inconclusive in documenting whether the prevalence of adolescent anxiety is increasing, given sampling and measurement limitations. This study adds new information on recent time trends in anxiety prevalence, specifically investigating trends among previously unexamined sociodemographic subgroups. Methods Weighted data of 37,360 youth respondents (51.1% female, 71.8% White, 91.3% heterosexual, 99.2% cisgender) from the 2012–2018 Dane County Youth Assessment, a county-wide survey administered to youth in participating school districts, were analyzed to estimate time trends in anxiety prevalence among the whole sample and by sociodemographic subgroups. Results The prevalence of youth meeting anxiety-screening criteria increased from 34.1% (95% CI 33.4–34.9) in 2012 to 44% (95% CI 43.2–44.7) in 2018 (OR for trend = 1.07, P for trend