PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention has released data from its Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The report shows how mental health issues and suicidal thoughts amongst teenagers, and teenage girls in particular, have worsened in recent years.
CDC and its Division of Adolescent and School Health send a questionnaire to middle and high schools throughout the country every other year. Following the fall 2021 data collection, the center received more than 17,000 submissions from 152 schools.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey focuses on five categories: sexual behavior, substance use, experiencing violence, mental health and suicidality, and new emerging national data.
According to the CDC, some aspects of health and well-being have improved for adolescents in 2021 compared to those in 2011, while others are still raising more concerns.
For example, fewer students in 2021 answered that they drank alcohol or used marijuana in comparison to students in 2011. But the CDC’s results also show worsening mental health, especially among girls and students with same-sex partners.
About 60% of female students said they had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. This statistic grew by 10% for ‘LGBQ+’ students, though high schoolers of several demographics appear to experience these negative feelings.
“In 2021, 42% of high school students felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row that they stopped doing their usual activities,” the center said.
Feelings of safety in schools have declined as well. Nine-percent of the high school students surveyed in 2021 said that there were times that they didn’t attend school because they felt unsafe while there, on their way there, or on their way back home. Less students in 2011 answered that they felt that way, more than likely because the number of school shootings has increased since then.
During the 2011-’12 school year, the National Center for Education Statistics reported 12 shootings in middle schools, junior high schools, high schools or other schools ending in grade 12. NCES’ data goes up until the 2019-’20 school year, in which they reported 78 similar shootings.
“Although the primary goal of schools is academic learning, they also play a critical role in shaping mental, physical, and social growth,” the CDC said. “Supporting schools in efforts to reverse these negative trends and ensure that youth have the support they need to be healthy and thrive will require partnership.”