Abstract
This brief uses data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms from two surveys administered in 2011—the Coös Youth Study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health—to compare mental health patterns among young adults in Coös County, New Hampshire, to patterns among rural young adults nationwide. The analyses focus on 214 Coös young adults and 1,477 young adult respondents, ages 18 to 21, who were living in non-metropolitan areas in 2011 and who provided usable data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms. Author Karen Van Gundy reports that Coös County young adults are more likely than rural young adults nationwide to suffer from symptoms of depression and substance abuse, and these patterns vary by sex. Coös young women tend to experience more depressive symptoms than their national counterparts, and Coös young men tend to experience more substance abuse symptoms than their national counterparts. Van Gundy concludes that programs fostering community attachment could lessen adult substance abuse in Coös County and that combined or co-occurring symptoms of depression and substance abuse in Coös County require careful consideration.
Publication Date
11-13-2013
Series
New Hampshire and New England Issue Brief No. 35
Publisher
Durham, N.H. : Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Van Gundy, Karen T., "Mental health among northern New Hampshire young adults: depression and substance problems higher than nationwide" (2013). The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository. 204.
https://scholars.unh.edu/carsey/204
Rights
Copyright 2013. The Carsey Institute. These materials may be used for the purposes of research, teaching, and private study. For all other uses, contact the copyright holder.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.34051/p/2020.204