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This brief analyzed 15 mental health measures (e.g., depression diagnosis, anxiety diagnosis, suicidal thoughts) and behavioral health measures (e.g., illicit drug use, marijuana use and substance use disorder) and five subpopulations using data from four national public health surveys:
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrator’s (SAMHSA's) National Survey of Drug Use and Health
- Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s (MCHB's) National Survey of Children’s Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC's) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
- CDC’s National Health Information Survey (NHIS)
Where possible, it assessed data over a ten-year period (2011-2021) using three points across time: 2011, 2016 and 2021.
While additional disparities exist across measures and subpopulations, the disparities included in this brief had disparity rate ratios of 1.5 or higher (i.e., one group’s rate was more than 1.5 times that of another) and, where available, data demonstrated persistence over time.