Policy Brief: Teen Mental Health and School-Based Services in California

Rates of chronic sadness and suicidality in adolescents have been rising in California-and nationwide-since about 2009. The COVID pandemic not only temporarily worsened this trend but also exposed longstanding inequities in both the prevalence of conditions and access to treatment. Significant gaps exist between the reported need for mental health care and receipt of services-especially for girls and older adolescents. Challenges include provider shortages and high costs. The state is investing $8 billion for children and teen mental health, including school-based services.

How are California's teens faring?

In recent years about 3 in 10 California children ages 12 to 17 have reported serious psychological distress. One-third of students studied report chronic sadness, and 14.5 percent suicidal thoughts. Teens of color-especially Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and multiracial students-report higher levels of distress than their white peers. Girls report substantially worse mental health than boys. This gender gap emerges early and persists throughout high school. Teens in rural schools have worse mental health than their peers in more urban schools. Those in the lowest-income schools report about 8 percentage points more chronic sadness/hopelessness than their counterparts in the highest.