Parental Perceived Need for Counseling for Adolescents’ Anxiety and Depression Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective This study examined the association between parental perceived need for counseling or mental health care services and adolescents’ subgroups of anxiety and depression symptoms (Anxiety-only, Depression-only, Anxiety-Depression, and None).Method Adolescent sample (N = 20,486, M = 14.69 years old, SD = 1.69) was drawn from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2017–2018 (NSCH 2017–2018). A chi-square test was used to analyze the association between two categorical variables.Results The Chi-square test was statistically significant, Χ2(6) = 7,914.33, p < .01, V = .44. Adolescents from the Anxiety-Depression group received counseling or mental health care the most (80.94%), while 69.03% of those in the depression-only group and 44.86% in the Anxiety-only group received mental health services.Conclusions Caregivers of adolescents with Anxiety-only tended to perceive the least need for counseling or mental health care, compared with those with depression or both, suggesting the need to enhance mental health awareness.