Asian children are least likely to receive mental health treatment, says CDC
June 13, 2023
Asian children in the U.S. are least likely to receive medication for mental health disorders, according to a recent report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report: Overall, the CDC found that nearly 15% of children aged between 5 and 17 had received mental health treatment in 2021. Of those children, white children were the most likely to receive treatment — which includes taking medication or seeing a mental health counselor or therapist — at 18.3%, followed by Black children at 12.5% and Hispanic children at 10.3%.
Only 4.4% of Asian children had received mental health treatment. They were also least likely to have taken medication for their mental health (2.3%) and to have received counseling or therapy (3.1%) as compared to other races.
Other indications: Data from the National Health Interview Survey indicated that children aged 12 to 17 were more likely to have received any mental health treatment (18.9%) compared with children aged 5 to 11 (11.3%).
Boys (9%) were more likely than girls (7.3%) to have taken prescription medication for their mental health in the past 12 months.
Children in rural areas were more likely to have received treatment than those in larger metropolitan areas.
Asian adults: The low mental health treatment rate among Asian children also coincides with a separate CDC report that shows Asian adults aged between 18 and 44 also had the lowest mental health treatment rate compared to other racial and ethnic groups from 2019 to 2021.
Cultural stigma: Experts believe that the low mental health treatment rates in the Asian community are due to cultural stigmas surrounding mental illness.
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