FRIDAY, Feb. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- About 20 percent of U.S. households report having a child needing mental health treatment, according to a study published online Feb. 18 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Alyssa L. Burnett, M.P.H., from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in Boston, and colleagues used nationally representative data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey to quantify household-level receipt of and difficulty accessing mental health treatment for children. Households with children (younger than 18 years) were categorized as having treatment need, unmet need, or difficulty accessing care.
The researchers found that 40,020 (weighted 19.6 percent) of the 173,174 households reported having a child needing mental health treatment. Parents reported unmet need in 24.8 percent of households; 21.8 percent of these cited difficulty accessing treatment as a reason for unmet need. Overall, 16.6 percent of the households with children who received treatment reported difficulty accessing care. Significantly higher unmet need was seen in multiple- versus single-child households (27.8 versus 21.0 percent), in households with children who were homeschooled versus in public schools (30.9 versus 25.4 percent), and in households of all other races and ethnicities versus non-Hispanic White households. Compared with multiadult households, single-adult households were more likely to receive but have difficulty accessing care (19.6 versus 16.1 percent). Difficulty accessing care was less common for non-Hispanic Black versus White households (13.1 versus 17.3 percent).
"Nearly one-quarter of parents in U.S. households with children reported that at least one of their children did not receive the mental health care they needed, underscoring persistent gaps in access," Burnett said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.