Are the kids all right? Supporting your teen's mental health through Covid-19

In an average year, calls and texts to the hotline decrease between 30% and 40% over the summer. Kids are simply less stressed during summer vacation. This year, summertime volume at the hotline went up by 6%, instead. A much higher proportion of the contacts have come in by text, as well. Many teens are stuck at home, without enough privacy from their families to make a confidential phone call.

Those numbers reflect a broader trend of elevated depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among teens as they cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, those issues were common in the United States, with more than 16% of youth dealing with a mental health disorder, according to a 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics. read more