During the pandemic, it has not been difficult to identify new, pressing challenges faced by young people—challenges that can have a significant impact on their mental health. Likewise, we can quite readily identify the impacts of new technologies on young persons’ mental health. However, while it is undoubtedly the case that both the pandemic and the explosion of digital technologies present new obstacles, mental health needs are not new; they are a universal challenge that cuts across time and place. Furthermore, while populations experience mental health challenges differently because of demographic differences like race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, it is also the case that there are basic mental health factors that are shared across almost every context.
Economist Daniel Eisenberg conducts research into how to invest effectively and efficiently in the mental health of young people. Much of his work examines inequities in access to services and potential interventions to reduce those inequities. He identifies the cultivation of a nurturing environment—including family, neighborhood, school—as an important support for young people’s mental health; one that threads through most all communities. His forthcoming co-authored book, Investing in Children’s Mental Health, uses an economic analysis to examine which programs and services for young people can most effectively mitigate a range of later risks for health and mental health conditions.
He serves as principal investigator on the national “Healthy Minds Study,” a national survey study of college student mental health, and facilitates the development, testing, and dissemination of innovative programs and interventions for student mental health. He is also part of a study, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), on “Harnessing Mobile Technology to Reduce Mental Health Disorders in College Populations.”
Daniel Eisenberg is Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA. He holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University.
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- This academic article reviews the impact of socioeconomic factors on mental health and provides some prevention strategies.
- Episode 2 of this podcast explores the link between social media, friendships, and loneliness. The rest of this 3 episode series is also valuable, discussing the physical and mental consequences of loneliness and ways in which loneliness can be mitigated.
- This short article discusses the paradox in which screen time is linked with worsening mental health while at the same time technology is being used more and more to improve mental health care. It discusses ways in which technology can be used for good in this regard.
- Dr. Eisenberg is quoted in this article about mental health resource shortages on college campuses. With mental health concerns among college-aged youth at a record high, this article discusses the efforts being made to mitigate this problem.