Washington, DC— The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened mental health for youth in America, disrupting the lives of children, adolescents, and young adults, such as in-person schooling and social opportunities with peers and mentors, access to health care and social services, food, housing, and the health of their caregivers.
Before the pandemic, mental health challenges were the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people, with up to 1 in 5 children ages 3 to 17 in the U.S. having a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder, according to the Office of the Surgeon General. The pandemic compounded these challenges and since its onset, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns have increased among young people. More than 140,000 children in the U.S. had lost a parent or grandparent caregiver to Covid-19 as of June 2021.
The American Sociological Association has compiled a list of experts who can provide background on the social issues that must be interrogated to understand the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of youth in America. These experts are available to answer media questions and provide perspective for news stories.
David Finkelhor is the Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire. He has been studying the problems of child victimization, child maltreatment, and family violence since 1977. His recent study “Receipt of Behavioral Health Services Among US Children and Youth With Adverse Childhood Experiences or Mental Health Symptoms,” which he co-authored with Heather Turner and Deirdre LaSelva, was published in JAMA Network Open.
Yang Hu is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Data Science at the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK. His research focuses on gender, work-family, and intimate relationships, with reference to population mobility and cross-national differences in a global context. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Hu has been active in researching social inequalities emerging from and exacerbated by the pandemic on a local, national, and global level.
Anna S. Mueller is the Luther Dana Waterman Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Indiana University. Mueller’s research examines the social roots of adolescent suicide; the experience of suicide bereavement in adolescence; and how organizational science can help improve suicide prevention in schools. Her research, which has received multiple awards, has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Western Colorado Community Foundation. In 2020, Mueller was recognized as one of Science News’s Top 10 Early Career Scientists to Watch and received the Edwin S. Shneidman Early Career Award for her contributions to understanding youth suicide and suicide clusters.
For more experts or resources, contact the ASA.
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About the American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non‐profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.
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