This policy brief presents findings from key informant interviews with NJ educators on what's needed to support universal adolescent depression screenings in schools: guidance, funding, and training.
Suggested Citation
Call for Action on Adolescent Depression: What Do Schools In New Jersey Need To Identify And Support Students At Risk For Depression? (2022). Project ASPEN. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University. Retrieved from https://cesp.rutgers.edu.
There is an alarming increase in the percentage of U.S. adolescents reporting depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, including in New Jersey. Early detection and treatment are key to preventing negative, long-term effects of depression in youth, and current guidelines recommend routine screening for depression in adolescents aged 12-18. Yet rates of adolescent depression screening remain extremely low. School-based programs can be an effective tool for improving rates of screening and early identification of adolescent depression, but critical barriers to implementation remain that can be addressed via sound policy.
According to a 2021 Surgeon General’s Advisory, there has been a recent increase in certain mental health symptoms among U.S. adolescents, including depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. From 2009 to 2019, the proportion of high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased by 40%, and the share of those seriously considering attempting suicide increased by 36%. An analysis of 2018 and 2019 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reveals a similar upward trend in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among adolescents in New Jersey.ii Rates of psychological distress among young people, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders have generally increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project ASPEN is a collaboration between a team of researchers from Rutgers University and the National Alliance on Mental Illness New Jersey (NAMI-NJ) to improve policy decision-makers’ access to credible and timely research evidence regarding different aspects of formulating and implementing sound youth mental health policies. The project is funded by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation.