KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Belmont Data Collaborative released a new report examining the interaction between youth mental health and academic performance. In it, the collaborative found that Hancock County leads the state for youth mental health vulnerability.
The county is also among the poorest in Tennessee, previously identified as a "distressed" county by a federal commission in June 2023 where the poverty rate is more than 29% and the per capita income is around $18,100 per year.
Grainger County was also the tenth most vulnerable to mental health issues, according to the report. Campbell County was the 12th most vulnerable, Union County was the 14th most vulnerable and Morgan County was the 15th most vulnerable.
"We believe that data can be the catalyst for this kind of shift in perspective. Through this report, we want to connect the dots that will help all kinds of people in Tennessee come to a clear understanding of how a community’s structure—from the built environment, resources, and funding allocations to patterns of behaviors and the interactions between people and systems—fundamentally condition a person’s ability to thrive," the collaborative's report said.
It was named Connecting the Dots: Mental Health and Student Success in Tennessee. In a release, the collaborative said around one in four young Tennesseans were diagnosed with a mental health issue such as depression or anxiety. The data revealed that Gen Z participants reported having poor mental health the most out of any other generation, and reported having excellent mental health the least.
The report also said students with "excellent" mental health are more than twice as likely as those with "fair or poor" mental health to say they get excellent grades in school. They are also less likely to have missed school in the past month.
The report also said adult encouragement can impact mental outlook, and said there was a positive trend between Gen Z participants who have a supportive adult or mentor in their lives and those who said they felt there was a good future ahead of them.
"One positive influence schools can provide is adult relationship," the report said. "On the academic side, decades of research have confirmed that teacher quality is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement."
The report also discussed the impact that community-based stressors can have on youth mental health and performance at school. A county's rates of income insecurity and infrastructure quality can help determine whether a student succeeds at school, the report said. The report also analyzed exposure to pollution and the percentage of homes without vehicles or health insurance in a county as an indicator of whether a county is vulnerable to mental health issues.
The report ended by encouraging more granularity when analyzing mental health data, and emphasizing that "there is no magic cure for mental illness." It also encourage communities to have conversations about mental health and its impact in school.
"For young people, families, schools, and decision-makers—talking about mental illness is the best first step to increasing understanding, reducing stigma, fighting isolation, identifying and lowering barriers to resources, and taking steps toward improved mental well-being," the report said.