With nearly one in five children in the US diagnosed with a mental, emotional, or behavioural condition, experts call for a broader approach that addresses social conditions alongside clinical treatment to better support young people’s well-being.
Children’s mental health has become a larger public concern not just after tragedies, but because evidence suggests emotional and behavioural disorders are common and often under-treated. In the United States, the CDC says nearly 1 in 5 children aged 3 to 17 has been diagnosed with a mental, emotional or behavioural health condition, while federal data for 2023 found that more than 5.3 million adolescents aged 12 to 17, or 20.3%, had a current diagnosed mental or behavioural health condition.
Against that backdrop, Anica Mikuš Kos argues that the modern idea of mental health is shaped as much by social expectations as by medicine. In her essay for Mladina, she says the traits commonly folded into mental health today – including cognition, social skills, speed of response, adaptability and resilience – have become tied to school achievement, status and a child’s place in society. She also argues that rising pressure, digital life, weakened family ties and broader social change have widened the group of children who are labelled with disorders.
That argument fits with how diagnoses have changed over time. The CDC estimates that about 7 million U.S. children aged 3 to 17 have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, and the condition remains one of the most common childhood diagnoses. Mikuš Kos notes that diagnostic thresholds have shifted, expanding the number of children who qualify for labels such as ADHD, while some behaviours once treated as ordinary variation are now classified as symptoms.
The scale of the issue also complicates treatment and prevention. The CDC says early diagnosis and treatment matter, but treatment access is uneven. National survey data cited by the National Center for Health Statistics found that 13.2% of children aged 3 to 17 had a current diagnosed mental or behavioural health condition in 2018-19, while a separate 2023 brief found that more than 20% of adolescents had such a condition. A psychiatry review of an early CDC report said only 21% of affected children received treatment, underlining the gap between diagnosis and care.
Mikuš Kos does not dismiss diagnosis altogether. She argues that it can protect children from punishment for behaviour they cannot easily control, explain school failure to parents and unlock support such as educational assistance. But she also warns that labels can carry stigma, encourage children to see themselves as damaged and reduce pressure on schools to adapt to different learning needs.
Her wider point is that child mental health should not be treated only as a question of clinics and prescriptions. She calls for more attention to the social conditions that shape children’s lives, including school demands, family support, resilience and broader inequality. That perspective is echoed by recent public health data showing how common anxiety, behaviour disorders and depression are among young people, and by research suggesting that access to help remains patchy even where need is high.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
