When a Zip Code Decides Care: Unveiling Inequities in Youth Mental Health Outcomes

A depression diagnosis is the same everywhere.

Unfortunately, outcomes vary by zip code. A lot.

32% of American youth who completed suicide in the 2010’s had no mental health care in the 2 months before dying.

Fewer than 50% of youth aged 5 to 17 had EVER received care.

The social determinants of mental health are astoundingly powerful drivers of clinical outcomes.

Here are more details from the new study published last week in the JAACAP.

1. Boys were 29% less likely to get care than females.
2. Youth from racial and ethnic minority groups were less likely to get care.
3. Youth living in non-metro counties were 20% less likely to get care.
4. Youth living in counties with high poverty and unemployment were 33% less likely to get care.
5. Youth experiencing family problems, recent crises, and justice involvement were more likely to get care.
6. Youth who died by firearm were 42% less likely to have received care.

Rurality remains a giant source of health inequities in the US.

Photo Credit: Jack Bell Photography