The findings are based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 7,700 teens conducted in the first six months of 2021, when they were in the midst of their first full pandemic school year. They were asked about a variety of topics, including their mental health, alcohol and drug use, and whether they had experienced violence at home or at school. They were also asked if they had encountered racism.
Although young people have been spared the brunt of the virus — getting sick and dying at much lower rates than older people — they could still pay a heavy price for the pandemic, coming of age while coping with isolation, uncertainty , economic turmoil and, for many, pain.
At a news conference, Kathleen A. Ethier, chief of the CDC’s division of adolescent and school health, said the survey results highlighted the vulnerability of certain students, including LGBTQ youth and students who reported being treated unfairly because of his race. And the female students are much worse off than their male peers.
“All students have been affected by the pandemic, but not all students have been affected equally,” Ethier said.
It’s not the first time officials have warned of a mental health crisis among teens. In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national child and adolescent mental health emergencysaying its members were “caring for young people with skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality that will have a lasting impact on them, their families and their communities.”
In December, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued an advisory on protecting the mental health of young people.
“The unfathomable number of pandemic-era deaths, widespread fear, economic instability, and forced physical distancing from loved ones, friends, and communities have exacerbated the unprecedented stress young people were already facing,” Murthy wrote. . “It would be a tragedy if we got through one public health crisis only to allow another to grow in its place.”
The CDC survey paints a portrait of a generation reeling from the pandemic, dealing with food insecurity, academic struggles, poor health and abuse at home. Nearly 30 percent of teens surveyed said a parent or other adult in their household lost a job during the pandemic, and a quarter struggled with hunger. Two-thirds said they had difficulty with schoolwork.
But the survey also offers hope, finding that teens who feel connected at school report much lower rates of poor health. The finding draws attention to the critical role schools can play in a student’s mental health.
Ethier said the findings add to a body of research showing that feeling connected at school can be “a protective factor” for students. Schools can deliberately encourage connection in a number of ways, including coaching teachers on how to better manage classrooms, for student clubs, and ensuring that LGBTQ students feel welcome Such steps can help all students, not just the most vulnerable, to improve, he said.
“When you make schools less toxic for the most vulnerable students, all students benefit, and the reverse is also true,” Ethier said.
The survey results also underscore the particular vulnerability of LGBTQ students, who reported higher rates of suicide attempts and mental health problems. Nearly half of gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had contemplated suicide during the pandemic, compared to 14 percent of their heterosexual peers.
Girls also reported doing worse than boys. They were twice as likely to report mental health problems. More than 1 in 4 girls reported that they had seriously contemplated attempting suicide during the pandemic, twice the rate for boys. They also reported higher rates of alcohol and tobacco use than boys.
And, for the first time, the CDC asked teens if they thought they had ever been treated unfairly or poorly at school because of their race or ethnicity. Asian-American students reported the highest levels of racist encounters, with 64 percent answering yes, followed by black students and multiracial students, of whom about 55 percent reported racism. Students who said they had encountered racism at school reported higher rates of poor mental health and were more likely to report having a physical, mental or emotional problem that made it difficult for them to concentrate.
The study also shed light on domestic tensions. One in 10 teens reported being physically abused at home, and more than half reported emotional abuse, including insults, put-downs, or insults.
The survey also revealed that students who felt connected in school fared much better than those who didn’t. Adolescents who said they felt “close to people at school” were much less likely to report having attempted or thought about attempting suicide, and were much less likely to report mental health problems than those who did not feel connected at school. school. The same was true for teens who felt connected virtually with friends, family, and clubs.
“Comprehensive strategies that improve connections with others at home, community, and school could foster better mental health among youth during and after the pandemic,” the report concluded.
John Gies, principal of Shelby High School in Shelby, Ohio, said he noticed an increase in the number of his students who were “struggling.” Sometimes, they didn’t make eye contact. Other times, students with no previous disciplinary problems misbehaved and ended up in his office.
So he used some of the money the school received from the American Rescue Plan to connect more students with counseling and created an arrangement to bring counselors from a local counseling center to the school several times a week. The school has created a support group for grieving students and for a cohort of freshmen that educators fear may fly under the radar.
“The mental health fight had been there” before the pandemic, Gies said. “The pandemic really brought it to the surface and made it a little bit worse.”
