CDC Survey Shows Slight Improvement in Teen Mental Health Post-Pandemic

In 2021, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted a severe mental health crisis among teenagers, with nearly three in five teenage girls reporting persistent sadness, the highest rate in a decade. However, the latest iteration of the survey, conducted in 2023, suggests that some of the extreme despair seen at the pandemic’s peak may be abating.

In the 2023 survey, distributed to over 20,000 high school students nationwide, 53 percent of girls reported extreme depressive symptoms, down from 57 percent in 2021. In contrast, 28 percent of teenage boys reported persistent sadness, a figure consistent with the 2021 survey.

Although the suicide risk among girls remained unchanged, Black students, who had reported a troubling increase in suicide attempts in 2021, noted a significant decrease in 2023. Nevertheless, the number of teens reporting persistent sadness in 2023 was still higher than at any point in the past decade, except for 2021. Particularly concerning was the finding that around 65 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) high school students reported persistent hopelessness, compared to 31 percent of their cisgender or heterosexual peers. Alarmingly, one in five LGBTQ students reported attempting suicide in the past year.

The CDC has conducted the Youth Risk Behavior Survey every two years since 1991. The latest data provides insights into how the pandemic has shaped teenagers’ lives. Corinne Catarozoli, a clinical psychologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York specializing in treating young people, suggested that the improvements over the past few years might be partly due to an increased focus on providing teenagers with earlier access to mental health services, particularly at pediatricians’ offices.

She noted that pediatric emergency visits for psychiatry care at Weill Cornell from January to May 2024 had plateaued, a promising change from the steady increases seen in recent years.

Nearly two in ten female students reported experiencing sexual violence, and more than one in ten reported being forced to have sex. Nearly one in five LGBTQ students and 16 percent of girls reported avoiding school in the previous 30 days due to fears of violence.

Despite these troubling findings, some metrics have shown positive trends over the past decade. Fewer students reported engaging in risky sexual behaviors. In 2023, just 6 percent of teenagers reported having four or more lifetime sexual partners, compared to 15 percent in 2013. Alcohol and drug use also continued to decline, with only 22 percent of teens reporting drinking in 2023, down from 35 percent in 2013. Seventeen percent reported smoking marijuana, compared to 23 percent a decade earlier.

The survey also included new questions about social media use, housing, parental monitoring, and experiences of racism and discipline in schools. In 2023, 32 percent of high schoolers reported experiencing racism in school, with Asian students reporting the highest rate at 57 percent.

More than three-quarters of students reported using social media several times a day, with roughly 82 percent of girls and 73 percent of boys reporting frequent use. In June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy advocated for warning labels on social media platforms to highlight potential harm to young people’s mental health. However, Dr. Ethier cautioned against attributing too much blame to social media. “We know that there are some difficult and, in some cases, dangerous exposures that young people have on social media,” she said. The CDC plans to conduct a more thorough analysis of the survey data on social media and mental health. “But this data that we’re presenting today doesn’t point to it being the whole story,” she added.