Adolescent Treatment Landscape of Depression, Suicidality, and Substance Use Disorder in the US

Abstract

Importance: Recent trends in drug-related overdoses among adolescents have highlighted the need for mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. However, the extent of these treatment gaps is understudied.

Objective: To characterize the factors associated with the diagnosis of and treatment for mental health and SUD for adolescents.

Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study used survey-weighted descriptive statistics and χ2 tests to estimate differences in characteristics and treatment receipt and included US adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 20 years who participated in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2021 and 2022. Data were analyzed from February 2024 to February 2025.

Main outcomes and measures: Primary outcomes included the prevalence of depression and suicidality-related mental health diagnoses, SUDs, and treatment rates for both conditions. Additional measures included treatment setting, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and health insurance-related factors.

Results: From 2021 to 2022, 13% of participants had SUD and 24% had a mental health diagnosis during the previous year (mean [SD] age, 16.0 [2.5] years; 48.4% female individuals; 6.1% Asian, 13.9% Black, 25.7% Hispanic, and 49.9% White individuals). Only 10% of participants with SUD and 51% of adolescents with mental health diagnoses received treatment for their conditions, with higher rates of treatment among adolescents with comorbid SUD and mental health diagnoses. When comparing adolescents (aged 12-17 years) and young adults (aged 18-20 years) with SUD for treatment receipt, reductions were found in any mental health treatment (63% vs 51%; P = .03) and any SUD treatment (11% vs 8%; P = .01). Moreover, these lower rates were also found in more resource-intensive treatment settings, such as inpatient mental health care (14% vs 9%; P = .02) and specialty mental health facilities (47% vs 33%; P = .003). However, adolescents with opioid use disorder were less likely to receive medication treatment (11% vs 28%; P = .02). Treatment differences were associated with socioeconomic and insurance coverage factors. Compared with adolescents, young adults with SUD experienced increased poverty rates (20% vs 26%; P = .02), uninsurance rates (5% vs 10%; P = .05), and private insurance rates (49% vs 56%; P = .02) while receiving decreased Medicaid coverage (47% vs 33%; P < .001) and government assistance (34% vs 25%; P = .001).

Conclusions and relevance: The results of this cross-sectional survey study suggest that adolescents and young adults with SUDs rarely received treatment. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to treatment gaps once reaching young adulthood, and medications for opioid use disorder are systematically underused, especially for adolescents.