OCMH Senior Research Analyst Amy Marsman spotlights recent articles, resources, and research findings impacting youth mental health.
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ACEs Declined to 37.5%
According to a new Child Trends analysis, in 2023, 37.5% of children experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), a small but statistically significant improvement from 39.8% five years prior. Although the analysis indicates that the prevalence of ACEs has declined slightly since 2018, the authors argue that these improvements are modest, particularly in light of the increased focus on preventing ACEs and greater awareness of the effects of trauma in childhood over the same period.
COVID-19 During Pregnancy Linked to Higher Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children
Children born to mothers who had COVID-19 while pregnant face an elevated risk of developmental disorders by the time they turn 3 years old, including speech delays, autism, motor disorders, and other developmental delays, according to new research by investigators at Mass General Brigham. The study found the effects were most pronounced after third-trimester exposure and in male offspring. The authors said the findings highlight the importance of long-term neurodevelopmental monitoring for children who were exposed in utero.
Updated Counts for Wisconsin’s Birth to 3 Program
The KIDS COUNT Data Center has updated counts, provided by Kids Forward, on Wisconsin's Birth to 3 program. The data show a sustained increase in the number of young children with disabilities or developmental delays compared to pre-pandemic figures. These data represent the number of children under 3 years old who are involved in the Birth to 3 program that provides early intervention services to children with disabilities or developmental delays. These data are point-in-time counts from October 1st of each year. In January of 2025, the data for all years were updated.
Child Maltreatment Declined From 2020-2023
Recent Child Trends analyses of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) show that the number of children who experienced maltreatment decreased again in 2023, extending a trend observed over the past three years. This finding persists despite the number of referrals to child welfare agencies increasing in 2022 and 2023.
NCANDS data also reveal that child maltreatment rates vary widely across states, with some states showing substantial decreases and others showing increases; this likely reflects differences in how agencies screen for, classify, and respond to maltreatment.
Child Trends experts have compiled these data and other child welfare indicators in the Child Welfare Data Interactive, a data tool that allows users to examine state and national child welfare data on entries into foster care, child maltreatment, kinship caregiving, permanency, and older youth in foster care. Data are updated annually upon release of the NCANDS and other related datasets, such as the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). Currently, federal fiscal year 2023 is the most recent year of available data.
Family Keys: Effective, Efficient, and Ethical Response to Housing-Related Child Safety Concerns
The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) released a final report on the Family Keys program. Wisconsin's Family Keys approach – first piloted by La Crosse, Marathon, and Wood counties – provides flexible funding for communities to co-design programs and supports that meet the needs of families experiencing housing instability so that children do not need to unnecessarily enter foster care. Family Keys is rooted in research that shows stabilizing families with targeted supports prevents the further harm of unnecessary family separation. The project aimed to directly apply research about the positive impact of concrete support interventions for families. The interventions described in this report were effective in preventing unnecessary foster care entries which resulted in a significant reduction in costs for local child welfare agencies.
Strengthening Evaluation in Child Welfare Services
Strong, well-executed evaluations are essential to a child welfare system that truly improves outcomes for children, youth, and families. However, limited evidence and too few rigorous studies prevent the field from identifying what works. Persistent barriers continue to limit the high-quality, systematic evaluations needed to understand program implementation, impact, and cost.
In this series of three briefs, the need for rigorous evaluation of policies, programs, and practices is detailed. These practices affect the experiences and outcomes of those served by the child welfare system, including child protective services, family preservation and reunification services, out-of-home care, and adoption and guardianship services. Key takeaways and recommendations to federal, state, and county agencies are provided. This includes the call to invest in evaluation, especially given the evaluation requirements of the Family First Preservation Servies Act.
Sextortion, Suicide, and Teens
The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) cites sextortion as one of the more significant online threats to children. Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation where the offender threatens to release compromising material of the victim unless the victim sends money, gift cards, and/or additional sexual content, or engages in sexual activity. Children are particularly vulnerable to this type of crime. A national study on the rapidly growing problem of sextortion found that 90% of sextortion victims between 2020 and 2023 were teen boys between the ages 14 and 17.
Sextortion has led to tragic consequences for victims, including mental health crisis and suicide. DOJ recently released a public service announcement with tips for teens who may be victims of sextortion. This follows the signing of a new law in Wisconsin making sextortion a felony crime.
DHS Reports Increased Use of 988 in Fall 2025
Spectrum news reported that since August 2025, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) said there has been a surge in the number of Wisconsinites reaching out to 988. The highest number of calls was in September 2025. The highest number of chats and texts was in October 2025. Data for December 2025 has yet to be released. DHS said while it’s not possible to attribute a specific reason for the increase in calls, it did note a correlation between an increase in calls to 988 and a range of national- and state-related issues, including: the government shutdown, suspended SNAP benefits, increased tariffs, and continued high prices for consumers. Additionally, programs such as Americorps, Head Start, Adult Education, various community services, and some public health programs also closed during the same period of a noticeable rise in calls. DHS also noted that when the LGBTQ+ Crisis Line was shut down in July 2025 those calls started being routed through the general 988 line. That, it said, likely also contributed to the increased call volume.
Distinguishing 988 and 911
This fact sheet describes the distinctions between 988 and 911 so that people know when to reach out for behavioral health support verses emergency services. Both 988 and 911 provide critical support but focus on different crisis types. 988 specializes in behavioral health crises and offers crisis counseling and emotional de-escalation; 911 addresses physical dangers needing police, fire, or EMS. Understanding the distinction is essential to ensuring the appropriate response and care.
National Survey of Children’s Health Data Briefs
The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is the largest national and state-level survey on the health and health care needs of children 0-17 years, their families, and their communities. The NSCH is conducted annually by the Census Bureau as a mailed survey with web and paper response options completed by a parent or guardian. Three data briefs were recently released.
NSCH Data Briefs are designed for a wide audience and present basic descriptive statistics.
Long-term Effects of Early Intervention on Executive Functions of Preterm Babies
Children born very preterm or with very low birth weight are at higher risk for executive function deficits, affecting attention, self-regulation, and problem-solving. In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial among 80 very low-birth-weight preterm children, it was observed that parent-led early intervention, beginning in the NICU and extending through the first two years, improved executive function. Early intervention may strengthen cognitive skills, such as attention, self-regulation, and problem-solving, which could improve academic, emotional, and social outcomes, highlighting the importance of early intervention for long-term developmental success. These findings support the long-term neurodevelopmental benefits of early intervention.
Examples of parent-only psychosocial interventions are Incredible Years, Positive Parenting Program, and Tuning in to Kids, among others. For this review, the term “multicomponent” refers to the parent/caregiver or teacher plus the child as the focus of the intervention. Examples of multicomponent interventions include Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Helping the Noncompliant Child, family therapy, and multisystemic therapy.
Psychosocial Interventions for Disruptive Behavior
In response to a meta-analysis on disruptive behavior in children and adolescents, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) commentary emphasizes the importance of psychosocial interventions for disruptive behaviors. The study authors conducted a meta-analysis of 64 randomized controlled trials of psychosocial interventions for preschool to school-aged children comparing the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions to treatment as usual or waitlist.
The study found that for preschool and school-aged children, multicomponent (parent/caregiver or teacher plus child) and parent-only psychosocial interventions were better than treatment as usual or waitlist at reducing disruptive behaviors immediately post-intervention. Evidence for long-term outcomes and studies conducted in adolescents was limited.
Examples of parent-only psychosocial interventions are Incredible Years, Positive Parenting Program, and Tuning in to Kids, among others. For this review, the term “multicomponent” refers to the parent/caregiver or teacher plus the child as the focus of the intervention. Examples of multicomponent interventions include Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Helping the Noncompliant Child, family therapy, and multisystemic therapy.
Improved Outcomes for Young Adults (ages 18-21) in Extended Foster Care
The transition to adulthood is a critical developmental milestone for all young adults, marked by identity exploration, increased autonomy, and growth and learning as youth finish school and enter the workforce. During emerging adulthood, many young people continue to receive monetary and emotional support from their families, with some young adults continuing to live with their parents into their 30s. However, Child Trends explains this transition can look very different for youth in foster care as they lose access to services or supports provided through the foster care system. To prevent this sudden shift at age 18, extended foster care provides ongoing services and supports to youth ages 18 to 21.
Child Trends found that young people who are in extended foster care at age 19 had better young adult outcomes relative to youth who were not, and relative to young people in foster care at age 17 who exited to permanency (i.e., reunification, adoption, guardianship, living with relatives) at ages 17 or 18 – even a short tenure in extended foster care has measurable benefits for young people.
Evidence-based Home Visiting Program Improves Maternal and Child Health in Tribal Communities
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), through their Leading with Evidence series, has found indigenous mothers and babies thrive when communities bring evidence-based care into homes. Their work recently highlighted Family Spirit, a proven home-visiting program for mothers with babies and toddlers up to age 3. Developed by the Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins University in partnership with tribal communities, and funded by AECF, Family Spirit now serves mothers in 170 tribal communities across 28 states, including Wisconsin. The program provides culturally grounded, evidence-based support and builds partnerships with tribal health, child welfare, and public health systems to strengthen maternal and child well-being.
Universally Shared Beliefs on Education and Mental Health
Across the Aisle is The Hunt Institute’s bipartisan public opinion research initiative that polls likely voters to identify where consensus exists on critical education issues. Their recent survey found widespread agreement across the political spectrum on a student- and teacher-centered education agenda, along with an expectation that elected officials start elevating education in the national conversation. The top recommendation is for schools to serve as strong community anchors that foster opportunity and strengthen family and community resilience.
Mental health messaging performed particularly well in the survey.
- Voters believe supporting student mental health is essential, not optional, and parents want more substantial investments in this area.
- 88% of all voters cite mental health services as a top educational priority.
- Life Skills are six of the top 10 most important skills: problem-solving, critical thinking, personal responsibility, communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills.
- When testing 11 different education messages, 84% of all voters said they would be likely to support a leader with the following mental health message: Real learning can't happen when students are hungry or struggling with anxiety. Schools must support children by providing healthy meals, counselors, and educators trained to recognize mental health needs - because caring for students' minds and bodies builds stronger communities and brighter futures.
While the results show support for school mental health, there’s also recognition that teachers are burned out and shouldn’t be expected to fill emotional and behavioral support roles in the school.
Connection, Trust, and Learning: Positive School Climate Tied to Better Student Attendance and Performance
This brief, covering results from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, details how positive school climate factors like safety, good relationships with peers and teachers, and parent engagement are strongly related to better school attendance. The study, which examined administrative records from Chicago Public Schools students in grades 6-11, also found that middle and high school students who had fewer absences showed higher test scores and GPAs both before and after the pandemic.
The survey measures most strongly connected with attendance included relationships with peers and teachers, finding value and meaning in classes, sense of safety, and teacher-parent relationships.
While schools play a vital role in influencing student outcomes, they cannot be solely blamed for high chronic absenteeism rates nor can they provide solutions on their own, the authors said. That is because students’ attendance can be affected by factors outside of the school environment.
Widespread Public Support for Federal Mental Health Funding
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, publishes public and community surveys to explore the experiences and perspectives of the public on an array of mental health topics. In their recent release, NAMI found:
- 83% of U.S. adults support protecting federal funding to help people access mental health care.
- If significant federal jobs were cut, 76% are concerned about the negative impacts on suicide prevention programs in schools.
- 73% of Americans oppose cutting federal jobs and programs focused on mental health services, opioid treatment, suicide prevention programs, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Half (49%) strongly oppose these cuts.
- Nearly two in three Americans (64%) support funding services for LGBTQ+ youth, who are at a higher risk to attempt suicide than their peers, as part of 988.
Parenting Program for Parents of Youth in Psychiatric Residential Treatment
Youth in psychiatric residential treatment (RT) are a highly vulnerable population in which parent involvement is critical to optimizing long-term outcomes. However, existing parent programs rarely address the unique challenges faced by families navigating RT. This study aimed to identify parent support needs and develop an adapted parenting program, Parenting Wisely for RT (PWRT).
Using qualitative interviews with parents and input from an RT staff advisory board, researchers explored the informational, instructional, and emotional support needs of families with youth in RT. Findings guided the development of PWRT, a 6-week program that combines web-based modules with facilitated parent groups.
Parents expressed needs for education, skill generalization to complex RT-related situations, and reduction of social isolation. The advisory board co-developed the parent groups to include strengths-based, real-time skill practice, peer connection, and tailored psychoeducation that fosters shared learning and addresses challenges unique to the RT context. Facilitators provided coaching and helped parents apply skills in diverse family situations, enhancing engagement and relevance. The researchers said the program represents a promising adaptation of parent training for families with youth in RT, designed to enhance parent knowledge, skills, and connectedness – and future research should examine it further.
Widespread Prevalence of Adolescent Loneliness
Loneliness affects individuals across the lifespan but is especially salient during adolescence. This developmental stage involves profound changes in identity, cognition, and social relationships, which can heighten vulnerability to loneliness. Drawing on global research, this paper highlights the widespread prevalence of adolescent loneliness, with variation shaped by cultural and societal factors.
Loneliness in adolescence is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including depression, anxiety, social anhedonia, and increased health risks. Importantly, persistent loneliness may become maladaptive, reinforcing withdrawal through negative expectations and creating self-sustaining cycles of social disconnection. The review also examines intervention strategies aimed at reducing loneliness, including those that enhance social and emotional skills, strengthen supportive relationships, and address maladaptive cognitions. The authors prioritize co-production with young people to ensure developmental relevance and cultural sensitivity.
Virtual Loneliness Among College Students
The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between university students' social media usage habits and motivations and their virtual loneliness levels. University students reported high levels of social media use and moderate levels of virtual loneliness, and a significant positive correlation was found between the two. The authors argue that to build sustainable and meaningful relationships on social media, there is a need to develop conscious usage strategies. In addition to interventions that support digital awareness and conscious media consumption from childhood to university to reduce virtual loneliness, university students' access to social environments and activities where they can have quality face-to-face interaction should be increased.
Family Connection in Adolescence and Social Connection in Adulthood
In this cohort study, researchers examined whether people who had greater levels of family connection as an adolescent experienced greater social connection as an adult. Working with 7,018 individuals over the course of two decades – from adolescence into adulthood – higher family connection in adolescence was significantly associated with a greater prevalence of high social connection in adulthood. Notably, high social connection was more than twice as common among adults among those with strong family connections as adolescents compared with those with lower family connectedness. The authors conclude that safe, stable, and nurturing family relationships during adolescence may contribute to greater relational well-being in adulthood, potentially reducing social disconnection.
Impact Report: Foundation for Social Connection
The 2025 report from the Foundation for Social Connection shows progress toward the Foundation’s goal of reaching 27 communities by 2027. A review of their Research and Practice pillar, the belief that implementing strategies, policies, and programs that are rooted in evidence is essential to achieving a socially connected society, is provided.
Citing the need for belonging and connection has never been greater, the Foundation works to translate the science of connection into local and national change.
Screen Time Limits for Children are Needed but Not Enough
A wave of large-scale studies is shedding light on the risks of tech use on child development and children’s well-being, including studies quantifying how early smartphone access and heavy screen use can harm adolescent minds. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has long promoted a Family Media Plan to support parents as they set rules around screen time and make other media agreements as a family. But as research advances, experts are clear that screen-time limits alone are no longer enough.
The AAP recently explained the current digital ecosystem is built to prioritize engagement and commercialization that encourages prolonged use, which in turn can displace healthy behaviors (e.g., exercise, sleep, social connectedness), and contribute to negative outcomes. In their new policy statement, "Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents," the AAP calls for a systems-wide approach with solutions that include changes to the policy and regulatory environments, rather than placing the safety burden almost entirely on individual parents.
To create a digital ecosystem that centers the well-being of children and teens, the AAP calls on manufacturers to create child-centered designs; differentiate child users; and include safety and privacy features as the default setting. For policymakers, the AAP recommends they invest in pro-social spaces such as childcare and extracurricular activities, fund child-centered media such as PBS Kids, and protect learning with screen-free school time.
Recommendations are also provided for pediatric providers, practitioners (e.g., psychologists, social workers, counselors, educators, researchers), and families.
Accompanying the policy statement is a comprehensive report, covering child development, caregiver stress, mental and physical health outcomes, psychological safety and adult content, and their connection to digital media use.
Both Abstinence and Excessive Social Media are Problematic for Adolescents
In this cohort study of 101,000 Australian adolescents, researchers used self-reported after-school social media use between 3 pm and 6 pm (weekdays) and classified into three categories: none (0 h/wk), moderate (>0 to <12.5 h/wk), and highest (≥12.5 h/wk). They followed up with the youth for three years. They found moderate social media use was associated with the best well-being outcomes, while both no use and highest use were associated with poorer well-being. For girls, moderate use became most favorable from middle adolescence onward, while for boys, no use became increasingly problematic from mid-adolescence, exceeding risks of high use by late adolescence.
The study is a reminder of the Goldilocks Effect where some use may be better than too little or too much. The authors conclude that social media’s association with adolescent well-being is complex and nonlinear, suggesting that both abstinence and excessive use can be problematic depending on developmental stage and sex.
Study Finds Meaningful Impact of Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring
Research from the University of Illinois Chicago found, in a 4‑year randomized controlled trial (RCT), that Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentoring cuts youth delinquency and substance use. The study also shows benefits of the program emerged in mental health. Youth assigned to the BBBS group reported significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms and more positive mental health. Details on how the evidence base has been built, including this RCT which is the largest and longest evaluation of BBBS, can be found here.
Youth Voice – Research Opportunity
MyVoice is a national text messaging poll of youth based at the University of Michigan with the mission to empower 14- to 24-year olds from across the U.S. to voice their opinion on issues that are important to them. The MyVoice team is currently recruiting new participants. Youth may sign up now to be part of the 2026 group, which will begin receiving text message surveys in the March 2026.
What Teens Value 2025
This year’s Values Report from the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA has revealed that despite navigating extreme weather events, global geopolitical conflicts and economic strain, today’s young people remain remarkably grounded, with their values reflecting core human needs more than fleeting wants. This year, young people again placed safety at the top of their list, signaling a continued need for stability in a time of heightened social, political, and environmental volatility.
The values of kindness to others and self-acceptance rose as the second and third most important, demonstrating that adolescents are turning both outward toward community and inward toward identity and self-worth.
OCMH Research and Data Resources
Key Facts in Youth Mental Health: https://children.wi.gov/Pages/ResearchData/KeyFacts.aspx
Fact Sheets: https://children.wi.gov/Pages/ResearchData/FactSheets.aspx
Data Sources: https://children.wi.gov/Pages/Resources/DataSources.aspx
Research News in Youth Mental Health: https://children.wi.gov/Pages/OCMHNewsletters.aspx
Youth Mental Health Initiatives: https://children.wi.gov/Pages/Resources/ChildrensInitiatives.aspx
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