Library

Reports: Mental health

A National Profile of Youth and Young Adults
Annie E. Casey Foundation, October 2024
Presents data related to more than 60 indicators on the health and well-being of young people ages 14 to 24, including employment, poverty, education, health, mental health, and family and community issues. Many of the indicators are available by race and ethnicity, and are also provided by state and, in some cases, by territory, city and congressional district. more info >

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes Are Declining Despite Continued Improvements in Well-being Indicators
Child Trends, August 2023, 10 pp.
Recent trends in child and adolescent mental health show worrying increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms and suicide among youth. This brief summarizes these findings and suggests that strong population-level monitoring of mental health — especially through robust data collection — is a vital step toward explaining the divergence between social indicators and mental health outcomes in children and youth. more info >

Cultivating Purpose in Adolescence
National Scientific Council on Adolescence (NSCA), June 2023, 23 pp.
This report reviews research about why a sense of purpose is important during adolescence, and how adults, schools, and communities can help young people cultivate this internal resource. more info >

Telehealth for the Treatment of Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November 2021, 75 pp.
This guide reviews ways that telehealth modalities can be used to provide treatment for serious mental illness and substance use disorders among adults, distills the research into recommendations for practice, and provides examples of how these recommendations can be implemented. more info >

Behavioral Health Barometer: North Dakota
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, June 2019
A series of state and national reports that provide a snapshot of behavioral health in the United States. The reports present a set of substance use and mental health indicators as measured through data collection efforts sponsored by SAMHSA, including the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. This array of indicators provides a unique overview of the nation's behavioral health at a point in time as well as a mechanism for tracking change and trends over time. more info >

Universal Approaches to Promoting Healthy Development: The Future of Children Spring 2019
The Brookings Institution and Princeton University, March 2019, 270 pp.
Includes a variety of articles that look at how society can best support parents, beginning early in their children's lives, describing several ways that local communities have tried to provide such support by implementing new interventions, reforming existing systems of care, and improving the coordination and planning of services. more info >

Blind Spot: The Impact of Missed Early Warning Signs on Children's Mental Health
Center for Children's Advocacy, March 2013, 24 pp.
This study analyzed school records in an effort to identify patterns that could be helpful in designing or strengthening identification and intervention strategies to reduce or prevent serious mental health issues in early adolescence. more info >

Results-based Public Policy Strategies for Promoting Children's Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health
Center for the Study of Social Policy, March 2012, 19 pp.
Presents three overarching policy strategies for ensuring that children's mental health needs are identified and addressed. The paper includes specific examples and ways to ensure and sustain success. more info >

Web sites

Evidence-Based Pratices Resource Center
Searchable database of interventions designed to promote mental health or prevent or treat mental illness, substance use disorders, or co-occurring disorders. more info >

National Center for Children in Poverty
Research on preventing child poverty and improving the lives of low-income families. Includes poverty statistics and information on child care, welfare reform, and more. more info >

Social Programs That Work
This site summarizes the findings from well-designed randomized controlled trials. It includes programs in the areas of early childhood, education, substance abuse and treatment, mental health, crime and violence prevention, employment and welfare, and more. more info >