One in Six U.S. Teens Report Moderate to Severe Anxiety Symptoms, and About 4 in 10 With Severe Symptoms Got No Treatment, a JAMA Pediatrics Study Found

About one in six American teenagers and young adults ages 12 to 20 reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms in a federal survey of 15,730 young people, according to a study published Oct. 12 in JAMA Pediatrics. The same analysis found that 41.2% of those with severe symptoms, roughly 4 in 10, had received no mental health treatment in the past year.

The paper’s first author is Dr. Tanner J. Bommersbach of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, with co-authors from Ohio State University, Columbia University, Yale University and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Their findings put a national number on how common teen anxiety symptoms are, and on how many young people are going without help.

The First National Anxiety Count From a Long-Running Federal Survey

The study drew on the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the annual survey run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that tracks substance use and mental health among Americans 12 and older. According to Good Morning America’s report on the study, 2024 was the first year anxiety questions were added to the survey.

Teens answered the GAD-7, a standard seven-question screening tool that asks how often over the past two weeks they felt nervous, could not stop worrying, had trouble relaxing or felt something awful might happen. Scores sort answers into mild, moderate and severe ranges.

A high score on the GAD-7 is a screening result, not a diagnosis. It signals that symptoms are frequent enough to deserve a closer look from a doctor or mental health professional.

The survey is designed to represent the U.S. civilian population living in households, so it does not include young people in settings such as juvenile detention or residential treatment. Of the 15,730 respondents in the analysis, 7,725 were female.

The results, as weighted national estimates, broke down this way:

• Mild symptoms: 23.7%
• Moderate symptoms: 9.6%
• Severe symptoms: 7.2%

Combined, 16.8% of young people fell into the moderate or severe range, the “one in six” figure at the center of the study. Taeho Greg Rhee, a co-author and professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut, told Good Morning America the data offers public health officials a “new national baseline” and will let researchers track anxiety among adolescents over time.

Parent Diaries has also covered recent research on how a nightly phone habit pushes teens’ bedtimes later and students turning to AI chatbots for emotional support.

Girls Reported Higher Rates at Both Moderate and Severe Levels

The gap between girls and boys was wide. According to the JAMA Pediatrics paper, 13.4% of girls reported moderate symptoms compared with 6.0% of boys. At the severe level, the figures were 10.8% of girls and 3.7% of boys.

Boys were not spared the burden, but they were less likely to get care when they needed it. The authors found that male adolescents, teens from racial and ethnic minority groups, and uninsured teens were all less likely to have received mental health treatment.

Severe Anxiety Rarely Showed Up Alone

Among young people with severe anxiety symptoms, the study found that 65.8% had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, 31.0% had used substances in the past month, and 48.2% reported thoughts of suicide in the past year.

Those overlapping problems are part of why the authors and outside experts stress early recognition. Dr. Chanelle Ramsubick, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at SUNY Downstate Brooklyn Hospital who was not involved in the research, told Good Morning America that “it is very hard to just look at a child and know they’re anxious,” adding that many children “don’t have the language to describe their internal world.”

Roughly 4 in 10 of the Most Anxious Teens Got No Treatment

The treatment numbers drew the most concern. According to the study, 41.2% of young people with severe anxiety symptoms and 48.3% of those with moderate symptoms had received no mental health treatment in the previous 12 months.

Rhee told Good Morning America that stigma, shortages in the mental health workforce and cost barriers likely all play a part, though he noted the study did not directly measure why teens went without care.

Screening at Checkups and Where Families Can Turn

Screening already has federal backing. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that doctors screen all children and adolescents ages 8 to 18 for anxiety, a “B” grade recommendation it issued in October 2022. Ramsubick suggested parents raise mental health concerns at yearly well-child visits, where routine questionnaires can make the conversation feel ordinary rather than alarming.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says anxious children are often tense, may seek a lot of reassurance, and can have worries that get in the way of everyday activities. Some anxious children are quiet and eager to please, the academy notes, so their struggles can be missed. It advises parents not to dismiss a child’s fears and to look for a clinician with training in working with children and families.

The academy also points out that some worry is a normal part of growing up, such as separation distress in early childhood, and that not every anxious child needs treatment. The warning sign it describes is worry that gets in the way of a child’s activities. For those children, the academy says treatment can reduce anxiety, and a child and adolescent psychiatrist, a physician who specializes in young people’s mental health, is one option for an evaluation.

For a young person in crisis, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline connects callers, texters and online chatters to trained crisis counselors 24 hours a day, and it also helps people who are worried about someone else. Families can call or text 988 from anywhere in the U.S.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: ChadPerez49 – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons