CDC Releases Report Showing Downturn in Youth Well-Being

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the Data Summary & Trends Report for its 2011–2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The full data set is to be published in Spring 2023.  

The summary explains new findings and tracks 10-year trends in these focus areas:  

• sexual behavior 
• substance use 
• violent experiences 
• mental health/suicidality 
• new data variables 

Data is drawn from information provided every 2 years by a nationwide sample of high school students. Here are some of the key takeaways from the CDC’s report.  

• Mental health among young people is worsening.  
• Female students are experiencing worse outcomes across almost all of the survey’s focus areas.  
• Race, ethnicity, and sexual identities are still linked to disparities, but the data is inconsistent.   

While some trends are troubling, others are encouraging. For example, the report says that: 

• Substance use and sexual risk behaviors are declining. 
• The proportion of students bullied at school is decreasing (though more male students are experiencing online bullying than in previous years). 
• Most students felt their parents knew where they were and who they were with most of the time, which is considered a protective factor.   

Download the Report here. 

Sexual Behavior Data 

The survey gathers data on these behaviors because some sexual behaviors can lead to negative health outcomes such as unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.  

The YRBS Data Summary and Trends Report shows that from 2011–2021, fewer students were sexually active. That trend held across all racial and ethnic identity groups included in the study. Condom use, HIV testing, and STD testing also decreased during that 10-year period. In 2021, the report states, around 30% of high school students had ever had sex.  

Substance Use Data 

The CDC includes these products in its definition of substance use: 

• alcohol 
• marijuana 
• vapes and e-cigarettes 
• misused prescription opioids 
• illicit drugs (defined as cocaine, inhalants, heroin, meth, hallucinogens, or ecstasy) 

For most of these substances, the percentage of students using declined from 2011–2021, except that vape use and misuse of prescription opioid medications stayed the same. Female students, LGBQ+* students, and those with same-sex partners used substances more than others, the report says.  

*The most recent survey did not have a question asking students to specify gender identity, so this report does not provide separate data for transgender students. 

Violence Data  

While at-school bullying dropped, every other measure of violence increased from 2011–2021. In its survey, the CDC included these types of violence: 

• being threatened or injured with a weapon at school 
• staying out of school because of the threat of harm 
• experiencing electronic or in-person bullying 
• having been forced to have sex at any time 
• experiencing sexual violence 

Female students, LBGQ+ students, and those with same-sex partners were more likely to have experienced violence than other students. In 2021, around 7% of students were threatened or injured with a weapon, such as a gun or knife, at school. Close to 9% stayed out of school because they felt it was unsafe to be there or to get there. And 8% of students were forced to have sex. 

Mental Health/Suicidality Data  

The YRBS asks students a series of questions about their mental health, including whether they 

• had sadness or hopeless that wouldn’t go away; 
• had poor mental health; 
• had seriously considered suicide; 
• had made a suicide plan; 
• had attempted suicide; or 
• had to receive medical treatment for an injury they got while attempting suicide. 

Each indicator increased between 2011–2021, except that the percentage of injuries from suicide attempts remained the same. The report says almost 60% of female students and 70% of LGBQ+ students felt lasting sadness and hopelessness during that period. In 2021, roughly 42% of students said they felt so sad and hopeless that they stopped doing activities they once did. The increase remained steady across all racial and ethnic groups included in the survey.  

Perhaps most starkly, 18% said they had made a suicide plan and 10% attempted suicide in the last year.  

Learn more about the signs of post-pandemic depression in young people. 

New Considerations   

In this year’s report, the CDC tracked three new variables which it considers social determinants of health: 

• unstable housing 
• school connectedness 
• parental monitoring 

Nearly 3% of students experienced unstable housing during 2021. Around 61% of students felt that people at school cared about them and their well-being. And 86% thought their parents or caregivers were aware of where they were going and who they were with most of the time.  

Read more about why schools need strong social–emotional learning programs. 

Key Messages    

The report’s authors emphasized the role schools play in providing accurate, inclusive health education and connecting students with the services they need. The authors said, “These data make it clear that young people in the U.S. are collectively experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act” (CDC, 2023). 

To learn more about what you can do to strengthen protective factors and reduce risk behaviors among young people, explore the CDC’s What Works in Schools program.  

Find out more about the assessments so many schools and clinics trust to identify mental health conditions in young people: Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, Second Edition (RCMAS™-2) and Children’s Depression Inventory, Second Edition™ (CDI 2®).   

Or speak with a WPS Assessment Consultant about opportunities to foster school connectedness through social–emotional learning.  

Related Videos and Webinars: 

• How Schools Develop Comprehensive Behavior Supports Using the BIMAS-2 Assessment 
• How Cyberbullying Impacts Students On and Off the Autism Spectrum 
• Anxiety: Recognizing and Assessing for Intervention 
• Using Social and Emotional Competence Assessment to Support Teaching, Learning, and Student Success 
• SEL as a Foundation to Safe, Supportive, and Equitable Schools