State Parental Consent Law and Treatment Use Among Adolescents With Depression, in JAMA Pediatrics
key takeaway: "Adjusting for state-level prevalence estimates of adolescent MDE showed that adolescents with past-year MDE in states with laws prohibiting independent adolescent consent for mental health treatment were significantly less likely to receive treatment (F1,46 = 11.18; P = .002; η2p = .21) (Table 2). In states that prohibited this consent, the mean (SE) proportion of adolescents with MDE receiving any treatment in 2021 to 2022 was only 37.2% (2.3%) compared with 46.7% (1.7%) in states allowing adolescents to consent with no or limited stipulations."
Characteristics of Fatalities Among Sexual- and Gender-Diverse Youth in the United States: 2015–2020, in Pediatrics
key takeaway: "During the study period, 176 fatalities were identified among sexual- and gender-diverse youth. Decedents’ mean age was 15.3 years. A greater proportion of deaths was attributed to suicide among sexual- and gender-diverse youth (81%) compared with nonsexual- and gender-diverse youth (54%). Receiving prior (69%) and/or current (49%) mental health services was more common among sexual- and gender-diverse youth, compared with nonsexual- and gender-diverse youth (50% and 31%, respectively). Sexual- and gender-diverse youth were significantly more likely to experience problems in school or be victims of bullying, compared with nonsexual- and gender-diverse youth (63% versus 47% and 28% versus 15%, respectively)."