Nearly all indicators of poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors increased from 2011 to 2021. In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health. In 2021, 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, 18% made a suicide plan and 10% attempted suicide.

Results from the CDC’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey show startling trends. While all teens reported increasing mental health challenges, experiences of violence, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Nearly 3 in 5 teen girls (57%) said they felt “persistently sad or hopeless.” That is the highest rate in a decade. And 30% said they have seriously considered dying by suicide (up from 19%) — a percentage that’s risen by nearly 60% over the past 10 years. Read the full report here.

While all teens reported increasing mental health challenges, experiences of violence, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

“Our teenage girls are suffering through an overwhelming wave of violence and trauma, and it’s affecting their mental health,” said Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health.

“High school should be a time for trailblazing, not trauma. These data show our kids need far more support to cope, hope, and thrive,” Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H., CDC’s Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science. “Proven school prevention programs can offer teens a vital lifeline in these growing waves of trauma.”

There was improvement for adolescents in some areas, such as risky sexual behavior, substance abuse and bullying, but mental health and suicidal thoughts as well as experiences of violence worsened, the data showed.

What can we do?

“Young people are experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act with urgency and compassion,” said CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health Director Kathleen Ethier, Ph.D. “With the right programs and services in place, schools have the unique ability to help our youth flourish.”
School-based activities can make a profound difference in the lives of teens with a relatively small infusion of support to schools. More than 95% of U.S. youth spend much of their daily lives in school. While their primary goal is academic learning, schools can take evidence-based steps to foster the knowledge, skills and support needed to help prevent and reduce the negative impact of violence and other trauma and improve mental health.The CDC began conducting the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 1991. A total of 17,508 students completed the 99-question survey for 2021. The data is a go-to source for the prevalence of drug and alcohol use, teen sex behavior, bullying and other things identified over the years as health-risk factors.