Mental Health Screening and Measurement in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Approximately 20% of children experience a mental, emotional, or behavioral health problem each year and 40% will meet criteria for a disorder by the age of 18 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends global and domain-specific screening at every routine health maintenance visit starting in infancy. Based on US Preventative Services Task Force recommendations, anxiety screening should begin after the age of 8 years and depression and suicide risk screening after the age of 12 years. Screening should be combined with ongoing surveillance to ensure a comprehensive program to detect children with mental, emotional, and behavior problems.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Mental and behavioral health; Pediatric; Screening; Suicide.