Students with mental health problems associated with absenteeism and poor grades show a clear need for additional support at school.

Parents report better mental health in their children than a decade ago, but different groups of children struggle with mental health in very different ways.

That’s what our team at the University of Southern California’s Center for Applied Research in Education found using a widely used method of assessing mental health. In particular, we found that adolescent boys – the subgroup with the worst scores – struggle more in areas that include disruptive behavior such as disobedience, disobedience and behavior problems. . For teenage girls – the subgroup with the worst scores – the struggle was particularly marked by internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression.

These results confirm rising levels of student mental health concerns that began before the pandemic but have been exacerbated by school closures, isolation and other child and family stressors brought on by COVID-19. 19.

Furthermore, we found these mental health test scores—which we call “problem scores” here—correlated in significant ways to grades and attendance. In other words, those with lower grades and lower school attendance were more likely to experience the highest levels of problems, especially in relation to circumstances.

Among the students who attended well in the first half of the school year, only 1 in 14 had a high problem score. But among students who were chronically absent in middle school, nearly 1 in 4 had more problems.

Similarly, students who get some Cs in school are three to four times more likely to have problem scores than students who get all As and B – 19% vs. 6%, respectively.

Since high scores on mental health tests predict certain types of mental health diagnoses – such as anxiety, mood or behavioral problems – these results shed new light on the relationships between complex between mental health and school outcomes.

Why is it important

Children face mental health challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Various data sources have highlighted increased rates of youth suicide, emergency room visits and anxiety and depression in school-aged children. They are also struggling academically, while rates of long-term absence from school continue to rise at an all-time high.

There are opportunities for schools to address these trends by providing school mental health services. These services include one-on-one counseling or therapy, case managers who can coordinate various services for students in need, and referrals to outside resources. In fact, our research shows that almost three quarters of parents whose students use the services provided by the school are satisfied and find them useful.

But many schools don’t offer these supports – or at least, parents don’t know about them. Our survey found that 59% of high-income respondents reported that mental health resources were available in their children’s schools, compared to 37% of low-income respondents. However, low-income students are more likely to receive those subsidies when they are available. More than half of respondents from the low-income group reported that their child had used mental health services while they were there, compared to 11% of respondents from the general group who earn a lot of money.

There is a significant unmet student need for mental health supports, with 20% of parents whose children attend schools without such supports saying they would use them if they were provided. These results suggest that there is an opportunity for schools to invest in not only providing mental health services, but also ensuring that they reach students who are most in need.

It is not yet known what

Although our research confirms important links between children’s mental health and their school outcomes, we don’t yet know what causes one. For example, some students may stay home from school due to anxiety and depression, while other students who miss school due to illness or other reasons may have anxiety over time.

What follows

In order for schools and families to address children’s worsening mental health and academic problems, researchers must seek to better understand the causes of increased mental health problems and school absenteeism. Research is also needed to determine differences in the relationship between mental health and school outcomes for different groups of students – by income level or by ethnic subgroups. This can inform how schools can respond to problems that threaten the well-being of students.

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