CDC report reveals that teenage mental health has declined significantly in recent years.
By Meagan Pe
Mental health among teenagers declined significantly in recent years, according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United Hospital Fund (UHF), a nonprofit organization that conducts health policy research, used the CDC’s report released earlier this year to highlight causes for the mental health crisis and solutions to improve the decline for teenagers.
“Protective sexual behavior … experiences of violence, mental health … and suicidal thoughts and behaviors worsened significantly,” according to the CDC report, which compares data between a nationally representative group of high school students in fall 2021 to its 2011 survey.
The mental health of teenage girls and LGBTQ+ members particularly declined in recent years.
The percent of girls who seriously considered attempting suicide rose to 30 percent in 2021, up from 19 percent in 2011, according to the CDC report.
Additionally, LGBTQ+ students who seriously considered attempting suicide increased to 45 percent in 2021, which is triple that of the 15 percent of their heterosexual counterparts with the same sentiments.
“A closer look at 2021 data reveals that subsets of students have very different experiences, some better and some far worse,” according to the CDC.
The UHF publication emphasized multiple causes for the mental health crisis among teenagers. From the Covid-19 pandemic to the opioid epidemic to technology, teenagers face multiple risk factors for mental health decline in their daily lives, UHF reported.
Particularly, technology is a uniquely recent risk factor for teenagers, as new social media platforms such as TikTok appeared between 2011 and 2021.
“[Social media] precipitated a revolution in consciousness, in which people are constantly packaging themselves for public consumption and seeing their popularity and the popularity of others quantified,” said Michelle Goldberg in a New York Times opinion essay.
The UHF additionally posed several solutions to the decline in teenage mental health, noting that there is no single solution to the issue.
It cited that most student support needed to come from teachers, schools, counselors, parents, community agencies, and teenagers themselves. Each one of these entities are a part of teenagers’ usual environments and could be partners in learning about mental health and contributing to a safe environment for teens.
The CDC additionally supports school programs and has resources to help community leaders address the mental health issue.
“The [What Works in Schools] program supports school districts in implementing quality health education, connecting young people to needed services, and making school environments safer and more supportive, with a strong focus on improving school connectedness,” according to the CDC.
Ultimately, both the CDC and the UHF acknowledge the complicated nature of the crisis.
“The teen mental health crisis in the U.S. is daunting and pervasive, cutting across many issue areas and demographic groups,” reported the UHF. “The CDC report and the data it represents are an important milestone and an invaluable opportunity to chart a compassionate and life-saving path forward.”