By Jennifer Leydecker, LMFT 

Recently the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released its Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2013-2023. The survey, conducted every two years, focuses on high school students and examines five key areas: the student environment, substance use, sexual health and behaviors, experiences of violence, and mental health (including suicidal thoughts and behaviors). The report provides a 10-year overview of adolescent trends, along with insights from the past two years. 

As a mental health provider working with adolescents, I find that these trends give me hope and highlight the urgent need for more support, education, and resources in high schools and their communities.   

Over the past ten years, adolescents have experienced an ever-changing landscape with influences from social media, politics, a society emerging from the pandemic, and the push for a return to “normalcy.” The CDC’s report highlights some of the positive trends, especially in the past two years, while also reflecting on various areas of concern for females and racial, gender and sexual minority populations across the country in key focus areas.  

One positive finding is that adolescents reported fewer persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness from 2021 to 2023. While the 10-year trend tells a different story, the hope is that with increased interventions at the high school level from resources like wellness centers and mental health providers; increased access and advocacy for mental health services; and attempts to decrease stigma; this decrease will continue over the coming years.   

Another sign of positive change is a decrease in overall substance use over the past 10 years, including an ongoing decrease in current use of illicit drugs and prescription opioids in the past two years. Given the overlap of mental health struggles and substance abuse within adolescents, this shift is promising.   

As we see the blending fields of mental health and education, this report offers clear evidence as to the importance of this relationship. With a glimpse into the daily experiences of adolescents, including their connectedness to others at school, factors interfering with attendance, and the experience of bullying and violence, we see females and LGBTQ+ youth impacted at a higher percentage in these key areas. Females and LGBTQ+ adolescents also report higher percentages of active suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts, as well as poor mental health and overall persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness compared to the national average. These groups have consistently demonstrated higher rates than the national average and the increase in the past few years adds data to what has been represented in media and national conversations around youth mental health. Both a decreased connection to peers—also described recently as the Epidemic of Loneliness by the Surgeon General—and the experience of bullying or violence have been identified as warning signs of higher risk for mental health concerns and self-harming behaviors (suicidal and non-suicidal self injury), intensifying the need for increased access for our vulnerable youth.    

School-based mental health providers, educators, and administrators are at times the first point of contact for students struggling with their mental health, and are frequently a referral source for additional services. Building community partnerships, as we have done through the RISE Intensive Outpatient Program at Children’s Health Council, is an important step in providing earlier access to care for adolescents and their families when mental health concerns begin to impact the quality of life. The goal is to decrease the need for higher levels of intervention at a time of crisis.  

Recent reports of deaths by suicide as well as reported suicidal behaviors have appeared to be stabilizing, while also continuing to be one of the leading causes of death in children from ages 10-19.  My hope is that with increased conversations and advocacy in all spaces that adolescents access, we can begin to shift the trends shared by the CDC toward decreased suffering and increased connectedness, growth, and resilience.