New federal data on youth mental health offers some encouraging signs, but experts warn that these signs of progress don’t mean American students are out of the woods.
The CDC releases the results of its biennial survey. Survey on risk behavior of young people Earlier this month we highlighted the change in student responses comparing 2021 to 2023.
Over the two-year period, there was a slight decrease (2 percent) in the overall percentage of students reporting persistent sadness. There was a decrease in the percentage of female students reporting feelings of hopelessness and in the percentage of female students reporting having considered suicide in the previous year.
Hispanic students reported lower rates of persistent sadness, poor overall mental health, suicidal thoughts, and suicide plans in 2023. Black students’ rates of suicide attempts and being injured during a suicide attempt both declined.
While these recent improvements are welcome, the report also shows that mental health and wellbeing trends over the past decade have mostly been heading in the wrong direction: 2023 data revealed that students are missing school more often due to safety concerns and reporting being bullied more, both up 4 percentage points since 2021.
Erica Fenner Sitkoff, senior vice president of mental health strategies at Full Bloom, said the results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey reflect what her organization is seeing in the schools where it helps develop mental health supports for students.
“[It] “This shows that positive change is possible and that improvements can be expected,” says Fenner Sitkoff. “It shows that the increased awareness and unprecedented funding since the pandemic is working. And just because the trend has reversed in a year doesn’t mean we can relax. The numbers are still not good. We should dig deeper and invest more in what works.”
Changing mental health needs
Principal Chris Young increased the number of mental-health staff at North Country Union High School in rural Vermont, less than 10 miles from the Canadian border, about a year ago, before anyone had even heard of COVID-19. Then, after the health crisis hit, Young felt the school was better equipped to support students during the return to in-person classes after a shortened last school year, thanks to the addition of two full-time clinicians, two college and career counselors, a wellness counselor and a behavioral specialist.
“What surprised me most when students returned in fall 2020 was how angry they were,” Young said. “I had never seen students so angry before. I knew they would be excited to come back and see their friends, but they missed our goal of giving them the time and space to mourn their losses. They missed an entire semester and had no way to communicate except online, which is incredibly unhealthy. We should have been more intentional in supporting them through what they were going through.”
Since then, Young said the school has embraced wellness initiatives across campus, including the creation of what are called advisory teams, in which teachers lead groups of 12 to 14 students in activities ranging from icebreakers to discussing serious topics like suicide prevention and substance use.
“That’s the biggest change: We went from a centralized approach where a few people were doing all the work to a decentralized approach where all teachers are doing some work and health care. [staff] “We work with kids who need the most help,” Young said. “What we try to do is create a community. If they feel seen and heard, they’re more likely to do better in school and feel better about themselves.”
Young’s approach aligns with how Fenner Sitkoff says schools can best provide mental health support to students before they fall into crisis, while still keeping counseling staff available. She says schools can bolster their mental health scaffolding by adding what she calls a universal skills curriculum that teaches students concepts like building positive relationships and self-advocacy, as well as screening to identify students who are at risk for but haven’t yet experienced a mental health crisis.
“Schools will increasingly see themselves as part of the solution, and so will families,” Fenner Sitkoff says. “Local clinicians often have wait times that are months long, and families go to the school and say, ‘Help us out.’ They’ll find out a little earlier because it shows up in attendance and grades.”
Student Perspective
It’s a mistake to think that students today are comfortable seeking help for mental health issues, said Anjali Verma, a 17-year-old high school senior. National Association of Secondary School Principals‘ National Student Council Then, during her freshman year, she became a mental health advocate.
“Many students suffer from suicidal thoughts and are afraid to tell adults at school. Some feel that speaking up will make them look less than good, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I think we are making progress towards improving health, but it would be a mistake to think that the stigma around mental health has gone away – that’s not the case at all,” Verma said.
Verma said she has experienced cyberbullying and, as a student-athlete, saw herself and her teammates struggle with toxic competitiveness and how “we found our identity in the sports world and didn’t see each other as people first.”
“They feel their mental health is not being looked after. [as seriously] “Just like with physical health, it’s a lot easier to talk to someone with tape around their ankle than it is to talk to someone who feels hopeless,” she says.
Verma is a strong advocate of peer-to-peer support, training students how to recognize signs of distress in themselves and their friends and connect with mental health resources.
One challenge adults need to keep in mind is that teenagers are good at hiding their pain, she says. Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that girls report feeling sadness and despair at much higher rates than boys, but Verma says that numbers don’t tell the whole story, given that data from other countries show that men die by suicide at higher rates. 4 times higher More than women.
“That’s how stigma is created – boys and men-identifying people are made to feel weak if they ask for help or less manly if they are seen struggling,” she said.
If a student communicates they need help, it’s likely to start with a classmate, she added.
“We teach students about self-care, about emotional first aid kits, what to have on hand if they’re in an anxiety-inducing situation or they’re not feeling well,” Verma explains. “It’s about having a trained cohort of students who know what to do if their peers are in crisis.” [is important] “In many cases, students take on their friends’ distress, when in fact it is necessary for mental health professionals to intervene.”
