Checking in on Youth Mental Health in Illinois

Extensive research has shown that youth mental health worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health in 2021. Even though the United States declared the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a national health emergency in May 2023, research suggests there is a continued impact on youth mental health. The most recent Stress in America national survey indicated there were signs of collective trauma among all age cohorts. Results from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that four in 10 high school students in the United States experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and two in 10 students seriously considered attempting suicide.

We wanted to learn more about youth mental health in Illinois in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic. In this month’s Voices of Child Health Report, we asked parents about their children’s mental health at four different time points: June 2022, May 2023, October 2023 and March 2024. At each time point, there were over 1,000 Illinois parents who answered the survey. Different parents completed each survey and parents were from both urban and rural communities across the state.

Report Highlights 

• At all four survey time points, approximately half of children and adolescents in Illinois were experiencing one or more worsening mental health symptoms.
• Irritability symptoms were the most common indicator of worsening mental health symptoms across ages and time points.
• Parents’ own stress level was connected with mental health symptoms for their children.

Proportion of Illinois youth with worsening mental health symptoms

We asked parents to report on the mental health of one randomly selected child under the age of 18 in their household. Parents indicated whether their child was experiencing any worsening symptoms from a list of mental health symptoms.

The proportion of Illinois children who had one or more worsening mental symptoms was generally stable at each of the four survey time points: June 2022 (50%), May 2023 (52%), October 2023 (54%) and March 2024 (49%) (Figure 1). This suggests that the proportion of youth experiencing worsening mental health has been relatively stable across the last two years. Other studies that used national samples conducted before, during and after the pandemic have found no evidence yet of youth mental health returning to prepandemic levels.

Mental health symptoms among Illinois youth

We asked parents about the specific mental health symptoms their children were experiencing. Being easily frustrated was the symptom that was the most frequently worsening at each of the four survey time points. Approximately one in five Illinois children had worsening frustration at each of the four survey time points (Figure 2). Notably half of the reported symptoms indicated worsening irritability including worsening frustration, being irritable or in a bad mood and having tantrums/outburts. Other symptoms included being worried; feeling anxious or clingy; and being fidgety, restless or having trouble concentrating (Figure 2).

These results were consistent with other research showing frequent youth symptoms of mood, anxiety, irritability, family relationship strain and frustration.

Irritability is a highly salient indicator of youth mental health problems beginning in early childhood, though expressions of irritability may vary by child age. Being easily frustrated was more common among older children, and tantrums were more common among younger children across all four survey time points.

Parent stress, other variables and youth mental health

We also examined whether there were variables associated with youth mental health at each of the survey time points. The only variable we found that was associated with youth mental health at each of the four survey time points was parent stress. Parents who reported their own stress level had increased since before the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to have a child with worsening mental health symptoms than parents who said their stress level had remained the same or decreased compared with before the pandemic. Other research suggests that parents’ mental health is closely connected to their children’s mental health.

The U.S. Surgeon General recently released an advisory statement about parents’ stress and mental health, while highlighting the importance of supporting parents’ mental health.13 You can read more about here.

Other characteristics, such as child gender and child age, were not associated with youth mental health at any survey time point. For child race and ethnicity, children who were Black were less likely to have worsening mental health symptoms than children who were white at Time 2 and Time 4. There were no other differences by child race and ethnicity. Finally, at Time 2, children living in rural regions were more likely to have worsening mental health symptoms than children in urban areas, but there was not a difference by rural or urban region type for any other survey time points.

Tips for parents to support youth mental health

There are many things parents can do to support their children’s mental health and well-being. We have listed some tips and resources below:

1. Develop safe, stable nurturing relationships within your family. Check in to make sure kids feel safe and able to trust their guardians. Stable, nurturing relationships within your family help kids feel supported in moments of distress.
2. Create predictable routines. Children are creatures of habit, and encouraging a bedtime ritual or having meals together can create a sense of stability and security.
3. Plan time for play. This can help by ensuring your child has space to exercise their creative mind and explore emotions before putting things into words they need to express themselves. Examples include imaginative play with a younger child, or playing basketball or a board game with an adolescent child.
4. Open communication establishes good habits for you and your child. It allows conversations to be started early, leaving lots of time to listen and make changes.
5. Help your child learn to understand and manage emotions. Actively listen when they talk and evaluate ways you can help them make positive changes. If needed, reach out to your physician for support to connect them with a therapist, who can offer additional support on their mental health journey.
6. Seek support from a professional if you or your child need additional mental health support. Professional therapists, counselors and social workers also can help through individual therapy or family therapy. Find out more tips and resources from Healthy Children here.

HOW THE SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED

This report is based on data from the Voices of Child Health research group at Lurie Children’s. This survey was administered to Illinois parents via the QualtricsXM panel. Data for this report were collected at four different timepoints: June 2022, May 2023, October 2023 and March 2024. The number of parents at each survey time point were: 1,028, 1,030, 1,000, and 1,012, respectively. Parents were eligible if they were the parent, step-parent or guardian or at least on child uner 18 years of age in the household (referred to as “parents” in the report). Parents were from all across the state of Illinois. For more information about the Voices of Child Health program at Lurie Children’s, visit luriechildrens.org/ParentPanel and our page on Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/cjz82/.