OCMH Senior Research Analyst, Amy Marsman, spotlights recent articles, resources, and research findings impacting youth mental health.
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New Data Dashboard: Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Wisconsin Mothers
ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) are very stressful events or circumstances that happen during childhood. They can affect adult health outcomes, including outcomes related to pregnancy. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) released a new dashboard covering data on the type of ACEs experienced by Wisconsin mothers, total ACE score, and the impact of ACEs on pregnancy health. This dashboard also includes recommendations from the Maternal Mortality Review Team about how to address ACEs and trauma to promote healing. While ACEs can affect adult health, they do not determine the course of someone’s life.
Explore the new dashboard as well as other recently published maternal health dashboards. A video tutorial is also available that shows how to navigate the dashboard.
Addressing the Neglect of Emotional Neglect: Prevalence and Long-Term Consequences in a Low-Income Sample
Emotional neglect (EN), an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), is underrepresented in child maltreatment research. The current study addressed this gap by estimating the prevalence and psychosocial consequences of EN in a sample of 1,926 low-income women who received home visiting services. Results indicated that 22% to 57% endured EN depending on the operational criteria, exceeding general population estimates. Rates of endorsement differed across racial/ethnic groups, underscoring the need to explore the extent to which prevalence varies along with sampling and measurement approaches. Regression analyses showed that EN was associated with mental health and relationship difficulties in adulthood, including higher depression, anxiety, and PTSD scores; lower levels of social support and relationship satisfaction; and an increased risk of intimate partner violence. Controlling for demographics and other ACEs, emotional neglect was associated with small but robust effects on adult mental health and social relationships at two time points four years apart.
The Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Adult Mental Health Across Demographic Groups
Associations between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and poor mental health are well documented, but it remains unclear to what degree these associated effects vary among demographic subgroups. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to synthesize the evidence linking ACEs to depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while exploring whether these associations vary by gender, race/ethnicity, and economic status.
A systematic literature search yielded 45 studies with 110,556 participants. ACEs were positively associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Associations were significant across genders, economic statuses, and most racial/ethnic groups. Wald tests showed that there were no statistically significant subgroup differences. Findings confirmed that ACEs are significantly linked to adult mental health outcomes, with an especially strong connection to PTSD.
The lack of subgroup differences suggests that ACEs are universally harmful, underscoring the urgent need for ACE prevention strategies and trauma-responsive interventions that can be scaled at the population level.
Parents Overwhelmingly Support the Agreement Between the States and Meta and Want TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to Adopt Same Safeguards
A new poll finds overwhelming support among parents nationwide for the recent agreement between states and Meta to strengthen protections for young people online and give parents additional tools to support their children. The findings show that parents not only support the agreement but also want other social media platforms to follow Meta’s lead and implement similar protections so young people have consistent safeguards across platforms. According to the survey, more than four-in-five parents across the country support the agreement between the states and Meta, including 82% of Democratic parents and 84% of Republican parents.
Further, 80% of parents support their state legislature putting these online safety measures into law, and 67% would be more likely to vote for an elected official who advances these measures at the state level.
The Influence of Social Media on Young Athletes' Mental Health
Social media use has become highly prevalent among young athletes. While social media platforms can promote social connection and support, they may also contribute to stress, anxiety, sleep disturbances, body image concerns, and online abuse. This cross-sectional study of athletes (ages 12-24 years) aimed to assess the influence of social media on young athletes' mental health.
The researchers found the following: 93% of athletes reported daily use of at least one platform; 63% indicated that social media interfered with training or recovery; 57% reported receiving encouragement or sport-related support online, whereas 47% reported negative effects on sleep quality, and 25% reported stress or anxiety related to social media use. Pressure to maintain an online image was reported by 29% of athletes and was more frequent among females and older athletes. Greater exposure time to social media (usage) was associated with stronger negative effects on sleep, mood, self-image, and feelings of isolation.
Teachers Unions Announce AI Safety Agreement with Microsoft
Two major teachers unions — the American Federation of Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers — announced an agreement with Microsoft that establishes a legally enforceable safety and privacy standard for artificial intelligence in schools that use the tech giant’s products.
Specifically, the agreement bars Microsoft from using student and educator data to train AI models as well as selling or using that data for advertising purposes. It also ensures that schools ultimately control how the data is used, retained, and erased, and it requires Microsoft’s AI tools to implement strong security protections and be designed to avoid harmful or manipulative experiences for students.
The agreement will go into effect on November 1 and be available to every school district nationwide. Districts can add the AI safety and privacy standards to their new or current contracts with Microsoft without being required to renew or renegotiate.
Union leaders say the new agreement is a first of its kind and needed since federal and state laws are currently lacking when it comes to AI guardrails in schools.
A Qualitative Study on Political Climate and Student Well-Being
The intensifying polarization in the U.S. political climate raises concerns about student mental health. While studies have documented psychological distress among young adults during prior election cycles, student well-being following the political turbulence of the 2024 election has not been well-defined. This study explores how university students perceive and navigate their health and well-being in this context.
Using a qualitative study of currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students at a large U.S. university between June and July 2025, researchers found that participants’ most salient emotions regarding the political climate were uncertainty and anxiety. Overall, students reported high levels of uncertainty, anxiety, stress (workload and pressure), and financial strain amid political instability. Students relied on social connections and health-promoting behaviors to sustain well-being.
Students recommended that universities expand mental health resources and enhance food accessibility. The authors conclude that institutional strategies that strengthen social connectedness and expand access to mental health and basic needs resources may mitigate sociopolitical stressors affecting student health during turbulent times.
Codiagnosis of Mental Health or Behavioral Disorders by Youth With Anxiety
Using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, the National Center for Health Statistics released a data brief on codiagnoses. Key findings include:
- The health center visit rate for youth ages 8–18 years with a diagnosed anxiety disorder was twice as high for females (32.2) than males (15.2).
- About one-half of health center visits by youth with a diagnosed anxiety disorder also included a codiagnosis of selected mental health or behavioral disorders (50.3%).
- The percentage of visits with a codiagnosis of depression was higher for females, whereas the percentage of visits with a codiagnosis of ADHD or behavioral disorders was higher for males.
As anxiety affects a third of youth and is one of the most common mental health disorders, screening for anxiety is recommended for all youth ages 8–18 years.
Voices of Gen Z Study
The fourth annual Walton Family Foundation and Gallup Voices of Gen Z Study found that students with the strongest experiences of engagement, support, and belonging are far more likely to feel prepared for the future than those with the fewest: 81% compared with 27%. The study points to relationships and relevance as the reason, not aptitude.
Nearly half of students say school doesn't give them the chance to do what they do best. Three in 10 say they don't have an adult at school who recognizes their talents and interests and one in three doesn't feel like they belong. A Video clip discussing the report and importance of belonging to the adolescent brain is also available.
Fact Sheets: Parents as Teachers Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
The early childhood years mark a sensitive time for brain development and are a crucial time for strengthening a parent’s understanding of the critical role of parenting, the essential opportunities for promoting healthy child development, and the consequences of trauma on a child’s formative years. Parents as Teachers released a fact sheet on child abuse prevention and the benefits of home visiting programs.
In another fact sheet on the impact of Parents as Teachers, the authors point out that more than 40 years of research indicates that Parents as Teachers helps parents in having knowledge and behaviors that support healthy child development and overall family well-being, including 22% decreased likelihood of child maltreatment substantiations and 50% fewer cases of suspected child abuse and/or neglect.
What the COVID Pandemic Did—and Did Not Do—To Children
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted multiple aspects of children's and families’ lives, raising concerns about its developmental consequences. Early research, much of it conducted during periods of school closure, social restriction, and economic instability, documented declines in academic performance, changes in behavior, and elevated mental health concerns. However, these findings were typically based on cross-sectional or short-term data.
This special issue of Child Development found that although the pandemic certainly affected children's development, these effects are more heterogeneous, context-dependent, and developmentally nuanced than narratives of widespread and lasting “loss” suggest. Taken together, this suite of studies points to four overarching themes that sharpen our understanding of the pandemic's developmental impact: (1) effects were real but rarely catastrophic, (2) longitudinal trajectories often diverge from early snapshots, (3) core developmental contexts were not uniformly disrupted, and (4) pre-existing vulnerabilities and protective factors played a central role in shaping outcomes. Effects were seldom devastating and varied by developmental outcome domain as well as country, age of sample, and demographic subgroup characteristics such as economic status.
16,648 Reasons to Live: Insights From a Computer-Assisted Content Analysis of Suicide Attempt Survivors
Most research on suicide focuses on the progression toward lethal action. Fewer studies have looked at individuals’ past experiences with the desire to die and why they did not die by suicide. Moreover, the existing use of reasons to live in assessment and treatment is generally grounded in inventories of questions that, while groundbreaking and well validated, were developed decades ago and without a focus on individuals’ lived experiences. In this study, an online user’s query to formerly suicidal people on the popular Reddit platform afforded a novel opportunity to investigate reasons people lived in a large, naturally occurring sample of 16,648 self-reports about their experiences.
Using a new method for computer-assisted qualitative content analysis, the researchers identify categories that affirm prior work and also provide new perspectives on that work, as well as suggesting connections between ideas in the literature on reasons people die, reasons people live, and subjective and psychological well-being. The study highlights the value of computer-assisted methods as a way of achieving both scale and interpretable results and it identifies a number of theoretical and clinical avenues for further investigation. The study also makes clear that even small joys can be a lifeline during a crisis, keeping people alive.
LGBTQ+ Young People in Non-Fatal Suicide Attempts
According to The Trevor Project’s most recent survey, 44% of LGBTQ+ youth who attempted suicide in the past year had done so more than once. They also found that transgender and nonbinary youth were less likely to access medical care after a suicide attempt than their cisgender peers (30% vs 46%). Methods and lethality are discussed.
Racial Inequities in Use of Restraint in the Pediatric Emergency Department
Restraints are used in emergency departments (ED) to treat acute agitation and prevent harm, but they can also cause injury. There are racial and ethnic disparities in use of restraint with researchers finding Black and Hispanic children 2.5 times more likely to be restrained in the emergency department than white children.
A study in Pediatrics found that a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) intervention was effective in reducing physical restraint of Hispanic children in the ED. The restraint rates for Black and white children remained unchanged, but there were reductions in the disparities for Black and Hispanic children. Staff injuries did not increase.
The researchers conducted this quality improvement project for three years with the goal of decreasing differences in the use of physical and chemical restraints between Black, Hispanic, and white groups in their EDs. Interventions included de-escalation training, a standardized agitation management pathway, increasing behavioral health staffing, a personalized care plan for patients, and audit and feedback. Commentary also calls on physicians to enhance the therapeutic relationship between patients, their families, and healthcare workers.
YRBS and NSDUH Results Show Improvements in Youth Mental Health
The CDC released the latest round of Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data collected last year in the first half of 2025. The release highlighted a number of improvements in youth mental health. Compared to 2023, the 2025 survey shows rates of hopelessness, poor mental health, and suicidality improved among U.S. high school students. Further information on the results of the 2025 YRBS are available. State-level reporting will be released later this Fall.
These results mirror another federal source, the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of behavioral health among people ages 12 and older. The NSDUH findings, released in late July, show some promising trends for youth mental health between 2021 and 2025, though there were slight increases in youth suicidality from 2024 to 2025. The NSDUH also reveals that young adults have the highest rates of mental health conditions of any adult age group. In 2025, about 29% of 18-to-25-year-olds were categorized as having had “any mental illness” in the past year, a decline from 33% in 2021.
Digital Mental Health Tools: Defining Quality Together
Digital mental health tools are increasingly part of the landscape of mental health care and support for youth, making questions about quality, trust, access, and effectiveness increasingly important. In this new brief – based on a leadership summit convened by the National Academies’ Forum on Children’s Well-Being – perspectives from youth, families, practitioners, researchers, and industry leaders are explored. The brief covers how these stakeholders define and measure quality in digital mental health tools for youth. Insights from researchers, clinicians, and industry are included.
Discussions explored trust and access, co-creation with youth and families, disability and rural access, privacy and data security, and approaches to measuring quality. Participants also considered financing and sustainability, regulation, and how existing quality measures could inform future efforts to strengthen the quality of digital tools for youth mental health.
Study of Wisconsin's Family Resource Centers
Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are place-based programs with great potential to address rural access barriers and improve health outcomes, yet empirical evidence on these programs is lacking. Using multiple data sources from a longitudinal investigation in Wisconsin, this mixed-methods study analyzed whether and how FRCs address rural access barriers.
Quantitative and qualitative data from the Child Opportunity Index were used to compare opportunities in rural and nonrural areas statewide and among 646 rural and nonrural families who received support from one of 18 FRCs.
The authors found evident disparities between rural and nonrural ZIP codes statewide and in FRC catchment areas. Qualitative analyses identified rural resource gaps, transportation barriers, and FRC facilitators of family engagement. Baseline survey responses indicated that rural families were more likely to receive resource referrals; nonrural families were more likely to participate in parenting programming and parent−child activities. Further, longitudinal analyses linked FRC participation to higher rates of resource connections.
Latino Families Rely on Protective Factors and Collective Care to Thrive
According to a new Child Trends Research Brief, unity is at the center of flourishing Latino families. Unity can manifest in different ways—for example, by helping family members get through difficult times, caring for elders at home, and making decisions collectively. The research brief also found that Latino families draw on powerful cultural and community assets that function as engines for flourishing. They encourage the passing down of practices that promote flourishing, such as shared daily family meals, while community networks offer families support through access to information and opportunities and a sense of belonging.
National Poverty Rate Declined in 2025
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reported on recently released U.S. Census figures showing that the national poverty rate fell in 2025 both when using the official poverty measure (OPM) and under an alternate Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), though the poverty rate moved up slightly from 13.0% to 13.1% when using a third metric, the standard SPM. Weighing all the data suggests the financial picture for families with lower incomes likely improved in 2025.
A related analysis from the CBPP shows the 2025 reconciliation law missed a chance to impact child poverty. In 2021 – due to temporary pandemic relief in the form of expanded Child Tax Credits – 2.9 million children were lifted out of poverty. In 2024 that number dropped to 1.5 million and fell again in 2025 to 1.3 million. For further reading on financial hardship’s impact on children’s mental health, see the OCMH Fact Sheet.
Intergenerational transmission of mental health during the first 1,000 days of life
Parental mental health has long-lasting impacts on children’s behavioral and emotional outcomes. Intergenerational transmission is particularly relevant to the child’s first 1,000 days of life (from conception to age 2 years). During this time, the foundations of biopsychosocial development are established, while the child is completely dependent on parental and caregiving figures.
In this review, the authors summarize evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analytic intergenerational mental health studies focused on the first 1,000 days of life. They consider vulnerability and resilience mechanisms that underpin intergenerational mental health and contextual factors (such as trauma). They shift the focus from a conceptualization of parent–child transmission centered around risk and mental health disorders to incorporate protective factors and positive outcomes towards a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationships between parental mental health and children’s behavioral, social, and emotional development.
They look towards opportunities to integrate findings about intergenerational mental health during the first 1,000 days of life into broader dimensions of research, practice, and policy, such as preventative and early-intervention mental health approaches that support child and caregiver mental health across income settings.
Rattled: Babies, Families, and a Year of Growing Strain
A national snapshot on life for families with infants and toddlers in 2025 reveals a troubling reality: economic pressure, emotional distress, and uncertainty intensified across the year while families fought to provide stability and love for their babies. Using data from Stanford University’s RAPID Survey Project, this report found that families across the country faced mounting hardship paying for the very basics like food, housing, and healthcare.
By the end of 2025, 53% of parents reported difficulty paying for the essentials. Food insecurity among parents with babies and toddlers nearly doubled from the start to end of 2025. The report also found from January to November 2025, the percentage of parents reporting elevated depression symptoms rose from 14% to 25%.
Pediatricians Report That Families with Young Children Face Widespread Challenges
A related fact sheet from the RAPID Survey Project documents what pediatric clinicians serving patients under age 6 report about healthcare challenges and family experiences, drawing on data from clinicians across the country who were surveyed between March 2026 and May 2026.
Framing Strategy to Guide Campaigns on Infant Mental Health
Developed by the FrameWorks Institute in partnership with Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health, this guide helps to frame campaigns in support of infant mental health promotion. The guide details core concepts, how to navigate cultural landscapes, and provides five principles for an evidence-based framing strategy.
Loneliness and Purpose in Emerging Adulthood
Loneliness is a complex phenomenon associated with significant effects on the quality of life and mental health of emerging adults. This study – a cluster analysis of psychological risk and protective factors – identified three loneliness profiles among young adults. The first group, characterized by high social support and purpose in life, exhibited lower levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. In contrast, the second and third groups, with low social support and greater use of emotional suppression, showed higher levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
The inverse relationship between purpose in life and loneliness highlighted the potential protective function of a strong sense of purpose. Findings emphasized the need for tailored interventions to improve mental health and strengthen social support networks.
Teen Loneliness and Connection
Loneliness and social isolation have emerged as major concerns for teens and their parents, with increasing evidence linking a lack of connection to poorer mental health outcomes. In prior Child Mind Institute research, both parents and teens agree that one of the most urgent threats to youth mental well-being is loneliness. Understanding how to help teens feel connected, supported, and that they belong has become a critical public health priority. Their current study – Building Bridges: Teen Loneliness and Connection – surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. teens aged 14–17 and found that feeling connected was associated with better adolescent mental health and well-being.
The survey found that nearly half the teens surveyed reported moderate to severe feelings of loneliness, while one in five screened positive for anxiety or depression. Connectedness is a core developmental need and is more than social interaction. It is not peripheral: 80% indicated that being connected is “very” or “extremely” important to them. About 60% described connectedness in broad relational terms, such as “having friends,” “spending time with people,” or “not being alone.” Others considered a sense of belonging, emotional closeness, and mutual understanding as the core components. Teens feel high levels of connectedness across all five domains. On average, teens reported the strongest connectedness with family, followed by peers, self, school, and digital spaces.
Adolescent Suicidality After State-Level Total Abortion Bans
This cross-sectional study assessed whether implementation of total abortion bans since 2022 were associated with changes in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among female high school students.
Using data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) on 338,324 students from 2017 to 2023, the researchers found that total abortion bans were associated with a statistically significant 4.3 percentage point increase in suicidal ideation among female students. Similar but less precise estimates were observed for suicide attempts. No significant differences were observed among male students. The findings suggest that state-level abortion bans may adversely affect female adolescents’ mental health and underscore the importance of suicide prevention services in affected states.
Social Connection Remains Dangerously Weak in the U.S
The recently released Social Connection in America™ survey continued to show troubling trends across several key indicators of social connection—including time spent with others, size of social networks, and social participation (clubs, religion or volunteering). Combined with continued gaps across other measures, these findings reveal a pattern from 2025 to 2026: the conditions that help people and communities thrive remain weak. A leading expert said she is concerned less about a particular indicator and more about the pattern of disconnection across the data, including too little time together, limited participation in community life, and persistent loneliness.
Despite these challenges, the survey identifies community strengths on which to build. Most Americans report feeling they belong in their neighborhood (70.6%), while many say neighbors are willing to help one another (58%) and can be trusted (49.9%). These strengths provide a foundation for strengthening social connection.
YMCA of the USA and United Way Worldwide, strategic partners of Social Connection in America™, are using the data to inform community strategies, evaluate impact, and strengthen programs. The survey's platform continues to support local action by providing state-level findings and public-use data sets for 2025 and 2026, helping community organizations and local leaders consider social connection in decisions about programming, policy, and funding.
The findings come from the nation's first long-term effort to measure social connection comprehensively over 25 years, providing communities with annual national and state-level data to guide action. Wisconsin’s state profile is available for review.
Smartphone Ownership at 12 Tied to Eating Disorder Symptoms
Using data from the ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) Study, a new research study found that children who had their own smartphone at age 12 were more likely to report eating disorder symptoms at age 14 than children who did not own a phone at age 12. Nearly a quarter (24%) of early phone owners reported at least one symptom of disordered eating. While the research does not show causation, the researchers believe the findings suggest that the timing of smartphone ownership in early adolescence matters and may be associated with eating disorder risk.
Victims or perpetrators? Young mothers who survived intimate partner violence and their involvement with the child welfare system
Adolescent and young adult mothers investigated by child welfare experience multiple challenges, including high concentrations of poverty, housing instability, social isolation, mental health issues, and intimate partner violence (IPV). However, little is known about the lived experiences of young mothers involved with the child welfare system who have also encountered IPV.
This study begins to address this gap by analyzing interview data of young mothers who had child welfare involvement in Ontario while pregnant or parenting and who noted experiencing IPV (n = 10). Three themes related to this dual experience were identified.
- First, young mothers described being threatened with referral or being referred to child welfare by their former abusive partner as an additional method to exert control.
- Second, young mothers believed they were scrutinized for concerns related to the child's father and his abusive behavior, rather than their own parenting abilities.
- Lastly, some believed that being in foster care during childhood increased their vulnerability to both IPV and child welfare involvement once they became parents.
These findings suggest that child welfare workers should thoroughly check the referral source and may benefit from additional IPV training and use trauma-informed approaches when working with young mothers who are survivors of IPV. There is a need to improve the ways in which youth are supported while transitioning out of the child welfare system, to decrease their vulnerability to experiencing IPV and future child welfare involvement.
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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