Transcript: YRBS Telebriefing

Mr. Haynes

I’m Benjamin Haynes, director of media relations for CDC. Today, we will share findings from CDC’s most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey. During this briefing, we will also share graphics representing these findings. And we’ll run these again at the end of the briefing if you want to record them for your media outlet to use. We are joined by Dr. Deborah Houry, CDC’s chief medical officer, Dr. Houry is also serving as acting principal deputy director of CDC, and director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, where she led research and proven efforts to prevent and reduce the consequences of injuries and violence. The next speaker will be Dr. Kathleen Ethier, director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, where she monitors the health and well-being of the nation’s youth and develops school-based programs to improve adolescent health. Finally, we will hear from Anna King, president of the National PTA. I will now turn it over to Dr. Houry.

 

Dr. Houry

Thank you, Benjamin. And thank you all for joining us for this important conversation about alarming new data showing the national youth mental health crisis and how schools can help. Today, we are releasing CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, or YRBS Data Summary and Trends Report, which provides data on key behaviors and experiences among adolescents related to sexual behavior, substance use, experience of violence, mental health, and suicidality. These data show a distressing picture. America’s teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness, violence, and trauma. Over the past decade, teens, especially girls, have experienced dramatic increases and experiences of violence and poor mental health and suicide risk. Findings also confirm ongoing trauma among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning youth. These data are hard to hear, and should result in action. As a parent to a teenage girl, I am heartbroken. As a public health leader, I am driven to act and prevent these issues and the impact it has on our youth and their families. As an emergency physician, I still remember the college student I treated after a rape. She was embarrassed and thought she hadn’t done enough to stop it. With her permission, I treated her physical injuries and met with her university about how they could support her and how they can create protective environments within the school. All of these moments have heightened my belief that we must meet youth where they are and provide the tools and resources that are needed for lasting change. Many of the challenges that we will discuss today are preventable. Schools are on the frontlines of the mental health crisis. And they must be equipped with the proven tools that help students thrive. Now, Dr. Ethier will delve into the findings in our report and how schools can help.

 

Dr. Ethier

Thank you Dr. Houry. CDC has conducted the national YRBS every other year since 1991. This nationally representative survey of U.S. high school students reveals the changing health risks our young people are facing. Our findings from 2021 are the first national YRBS data that have been presented since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. And while much attention has been given to the Youth Mental Health Crisis during the COVID 19 pandemic, YRBS data have shown that many measures were moving in the wrong direction before the pandemic. These data show the mental health crisis among young people continues. In 2021, 42% of U.S. high school students experienced persistent sadness and hopelessness. Almost a third experienced poor mental health in the past month, and 10% attempted suicide in the last year. Our findings are particularly stark for teen girls. Teen girls are experiencing record high levels of violence. In 2021, one in five girls recently experienced sexual violence. This is up 20% since 2017. Fourteen percent of teen girls had been physically forced to have sex when they did not want to. For the last 10 years, that number stayed consistently high around 10 or 11% and jumped from 11% to 14% from 2019 to 2021, in just two years. This is truly alarming. Think about what I just said. For every 10 teenage girls you know, at least one of them, and probably more, has been raped. This tragedy cannot continue. Although we have seen worsening trends in mental health for young people over the last 10 years, the levels of poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors reported by teenage girls are now higher than we have ever seen. In 2021, nearly three and five teen girls reported depressive symptoms. Three in 10 seriously considered attempting suicide, and more than one in 10 girls attempted suicide in 2021. Levels of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors were twice as high among teen girls as teen boys. Unfortunately, as we’ve been seeing for many years, LGBQ+ students continue to be at high risk for experiencing violence and suicide. In 2021, LGBQ+ teens were much more likely to have experienced all forms of violence and had worse mental health outcomes than heterosexual youth. Almost a third of LGBQ+ students were bullied online; almost a quarter were bullied at school, and more than one in 10 did not go to school because of safety concerns. Tragically, almost half seriously considered suicide, and nearly one in four attempted suicide. This is devastating.

When we look at findings by race and ethnicity, we see high and worsening levels of persistent sadness or hopelessness across all racial and ethnic groups, and that reported suicide attempts increased among black youth and white youth. These data are clear, our young people are in crisis. And schools are on the frontlines of this crisis, and they must be equipped with the tools to support young people. This includes training for teachers to help them manage the mental health problems they’re seeing in their classrooms, getting students out into communities, and bringing mentors into schools to foster positive engagements and connections, and making sure that schools are safe places for our most vulnerable youth. Schools should also connect youth to needed services and provide high quality health education that teaches skills like understanding sexual consent, managing emotions, and communication. These are critical lifelines for students. They are also part of CDC’s What Works in Schools program. And research has shown that schools that implement the program see significant benefits for their students, and addresses many of the concerning trends we see in this data. I’d like to now turn it over to Anna King, president of the National PTA, to provide additional perspectives about these findings.

 

Ms. King

Thank you, Dr. Ethier and Dr. Houry for letting me participate in this briefing today. I just have to say that this YRBS data is extremely heartbreaking to see. This is especially heartbreaking to see the data for female students and LGBQ+ students. We’ve been saying our nation is facing a huge mental health crisis, and this data makes it even more devastating. And we must address it right now. Our children are our future. They are the future of our country. And it’s critical that we help them reach their full potential, right now. At the PTA, our mission is to always make the difference for education, health, safety and well-being of every child. And that’s extremely important to us. We also put emphasis on always bringing together our families, our schools, and communities to support critical needs, as this. We’ve been doing this work for 125 years. We help our families navigate the challenges to help their students thrive. My grandmother used to say a phrase, it takes a village to raise a child. And that’s so true in so many different ways. And that includes helping and engaging and empowering our families, our communities and schools to come together. It’s critical that everyone come together. School staff and community organizations collaborate and work together to help our families and our children with comprehensive support. There couldn’t be more of an urgent time for all of us to do this work together. Our children need us, right now. The data that you have just shown on the screen is heartbreaking. My family went through a situation as such with my 15-year-old niece named Lana. Five years ago, it will be five years ago this March. She was a happy child. She was very engaging. She danced. She played sports. She ran track and basketball. She was a dancer, and she was a cheerleader. We never knew what signs were, or what to look for. And that was extremely important to us. I’m urging our families to come together, look for signs, look for ways that you can have these conversations with your children. Get to know them; have these routine conversations all the time. It’s critical to talk with our children about what they’re feeling and their concerns, things happen at school with their friends, and how current events are always impacting them, and to share their own feelings and challenges are extremely important, as well as your own. These conversations will help parents learn how to help their child, and figure out what’s going on emotionally, building their ability to cope with life stresses and show them their feelings matter. It also helps them to understand that they’re not alone. As parents, we struggle too, as guardians, you struggle as well. And over time, this builds trust, and it helps children realize that they are loved and supported. Mental health should always be a priority. Intentionally. I know this because my family now intentionally talks to our loved ones. It should be woven into our families’ regular routines, to help families prioritize and maintain a healthy mind and build resiliency. It is essential to talk and have open conversations about how they’re feeling, not just our families and our children, but our teachers too. Our teachers need help. Schools also play an integral role in promoting this wellness, and this connectedness, and facilitating protective factors among students in collaboration with community partners and our families. At the universal level, schools can work together to create and support a school climate that all students feel welcome, supported, and set up for success. We suggest that our schools start by educating their staff and their families on what mental health is, what supports are available, and how they can access their services. This includes teaching about social and emotional learning, connecting students with counseling and providing families with tools they need to have mental health and great conversations at home. We also believe that schools should be standing together to advocate for mental health support and services within the school districts, and our states, regardless of where our children come from or who they are. They need us to band together, and any federal investments are critical to ensure the success of all of our children and young people across our country. Congress must act now to address the youth mental health crisis. Congress must include in any mental health policy language that ensures that all students have access to mental health resources at school and in their community, including targeted support for underserved populations and children experiencing trauma as the both of you just spoke earlier about. Encouraging our schools to adopt practices and establish safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments for all of our students is extremely important. This promotes the social and emotional learning and including resources for families to support this critical practice at home. It’s important that teacher training and professional development activities are provided to address the social and emotional learning and other needs of our students. While the YRBS data is beyond heartbreaking, it shows that we are have, right now, that we have to take action to address the youth mental health crisis with our nation’s leader. Every adult should have a vested interest in ensuring our children and young people are home, physically and mentally. And we can do this together. We can address this crisis, as my big mama used to say, it takes a village to raise a child. I wish my family had these resources, and knew what to look for earlier. And that’s why it’s extremely important that we remain steadfast in our commitment to this work, and our mission to make sure that every child’s potential becomes a reality. Across this country, we cannot afford to leave any child or young person behind. We will now never, never, never stop speaking loud and demanding more for every child across this country. Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in this briefing.

 

Dr. Houry

Thank you so much for joining us today Ms. King. We appreciate that additional perspective on these findings and that deeply personal story that you shared. These data raise many challenges our teens are facing and the urgency to invest in our schools, and in our communities, as a vital lifeline to help struggling youth. When I look toward our young people’s future, I want to be filled with hope, not heartbreak. Fortunately, with evidence-based programs and strategies in place, programs such as school-based programs, mentoring and apprentice programs, and hospital community partnerships can help stop the cycle of trauma that too many teens are experiencing. Doing better will take time, partnership, and resources. Our kids need our help now. Thank you all for joining us today to learn about this important issue. I will now turn it back over to you, Benjamin.

 

Mr. Haynes

Thank you, Dr. Houry, Dr. Ethier, and Miss King. Thank you to all of our speakers. As a reminder, we will run the graphics again at the end of the briefing, so you can record them. At this time operator, we’d like to open it up for questions.

 

Operator

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one and record your name. Your name is required to introduce your question. And please limit your question to just one question for today. Our first question does come from Sarah Toy with WSJ, your line is open.

 

Journalist

Hi, thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to just ask, you know, what makes girls particularly vulnerable to these mental health issues? And what can we do specifically to prevent and treat these issues in young girls?

 

Dr. Houry

So I can start. This is Dr. Houry. You know what I would say? It’s not just what makes our girls vulnerable, but how can we protect them? When we talk about sexual violence, we must also look at perpetration, and really looking at all of our youth and how can we make sure that we are protecting all of our youth so that girls aren’t experiencing sexual violence. This can certainly lead to other issues, like some of the hopelessness that we’ve heard about, and some of the substance use. There’s programs like bystander programs, like Green Dot, that can really empower people to intervene. I think we need to focus on programs like this and other programs in schools that can teach about healthy relationships, and other really positive behaviors.

 

Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

 

Operator

Comes from Hilary Brueck from insider. Your line is open.

 

Journalist

Hi, thanks so much for doing this briefing. I wanted to ask if you have any evidence that the trends in sexual violence and hopelessness and sadness are linked so, you know, any data that suggests for sex or sexual violence might be influencing the increasingly negative mental health trends we’re seeing in teenage girls. And then additionally, what other factors you think might be involved in the trends?

 

Dr. Houry

So this study didn’t look at the linkages, per se. But CDC, and many other researchers have looked at this. And we know that with sexual violence, it is associated with mental health issues, substance use, and also long term health consequences. And that’s why it’s so important to really focus on prevention. There’s not one single thing that is leading to this. People looked at social media, the pandemic, stressors at school, all these are certainly things that we need to look at, but I’ll see if Dr. Ethier has anything additional to add as well.

 

Dr. Ethier

It is a complicated, it is a complicated answer. In general, we are seeing changes in how people interact with each other, increases in misinformation, societal conflict. And it would be naive to say that this doesn’t affect our young people. The social isolation from the pandemic certainly made things worse, and young people were separated from their peers and from their community and school supports. Social media certainly contributes although, in our data, young people are not reporting more electronic bullying. But even if we don’t know the exact causes, we do have solutions, some of which Dr. Houry mentioned – positive supportive school environments are really essential to change the direction of these trends.

 

Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

 

Operator

Our next question comes from Alexander Tin with CBS. Your line is open.

 

Journalist

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the survey itself. Were there any changes for the COVID pandemic in 2021? And when and what other results should we expect to be released next?

 

Dr. Ethier

Sure. This is the first YRBS, the regular YRBS survey, since the start of the pandemic. The data were collected in the fall of 2021. We are releasing this first set of data today. We anticipate that the full survey data as well as the state and local survey will be available in April.

 

Mr. Haynes

Next question, please.

 

Operator

Our next question comes from Adrianna Rodriguez with USA Today. Your line is open.

 

Journalist

Hi, thank you so much for taking my question. I did notice that the survey did not include a question assessing gender identity. I was wondering why that is or maybe if future reports will include trans and non-binary students. Thank you.

 

Dr. Ethier

Yes, thank you for that question. Although a number of states include a gender identity question in 2021, it is not in the national survey. But we will be able to look across the states and locals that included a gender identity question and follow up on that data. We have added a gender identity question into the 2023 national survey and so that data will be available when the 2023 data is available.

 

Mr. Haynes

Operator I believe we have time for two more questions.

 

Operator

Our next question comes from Orion Rummler with the 19th news. Your line is open.

 

Journalist

Thanks so much for this briefing. As those results put out this first regular survey of the YRBS since the pandemic, what funding or other direct action are is the CDC going to take to support mental health for these kids, especially girls considering this data? Are y’all proposing or advocating for anything?

 

Dr. Ethier

So, we currently, our CDC What Works in Schools Program, which is currently being implemented in 28 local school districts around the country, has shown to improve many of the outcomes that we’re concerned about in these data. So we will continue to support our local districts, and hopefully work in partnership to be able to expand that work.

 

Dr. Houry

And the other thing I would add to that is we also have programs focused on adverse childhood experiences or childhood trauma. So how do we prevent this violence in the first place? CDC also spends almost all states for rape prevention and education to help with sexual violence through our health departments. And then finally, we also have a comprehensive suicide prevention program in states and communities to address this. And this also focuses particularly in youth, and our LGBT populations.

 

Ms. King

Can I add something as well? I think it’s really important that our parents really talk. I’m going to keep emphasizing on this, that our parents, and our guardians talk to their children. If you see anything going on, any kind of sign, make sure to let your schools, your educators know. It’s important for the school and the teachers, the school staff and parents and guardians, all families to work together. Because that takes that whole village of wrapping its arms around our children, especially our girls right now. Our girls are faced with so many things. And it’s important that they feel comfortable with speaking because they speak with each other, peer-to-peer. And if you notice that they have friends, and they’re talking to their friends instead of you, it’s important to get to know their friends’ parents as well so you can get together and educate yourself on what to look for to help them.

 

Mr. Haynes

And our final question, please.

 

Operator

Our final question comes from Leigh Ann Winick with CBS News. Your line is open.

 

Journalist

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I’m wondering about resources in schools since you talked about legislation to require coverage for youth mental health. There is currently a shortage of professionals and that can’t be addressed overnight, so are there alternative methods or training programs or paraprofessionals that CDC is investing in?

 

Dr. Ethier

So schools really are on the frontlines of the mental health crisis. We hear from educators all the time that they are dealing with mental health and behavioral health issues in their classrooms, so a first line is to make sure that teachers have training in managing those mental health issues and behavioral issues in their classroom, often called classroom management – that really prevents a whole host of problems. And rather than burdening schools with additional things to do, it can really alleviate the burden on teachers to make sure that they know how to handle those issues.

 

Dr. Houry

I just want to add one thing for all of you. 988 is really important to include in any stories you are covering. This is the suicide prevention hotline, and I think whenever we talk about mental health, sexual violence, and these issues, it’s important to also include a resource where people can reach out and I do echo what Ms. King says about parents. Parents have such an important role. If you notice any changes in your child’s behavior around eating or sleep, certainly ask them about it., And more importantly, be as involved as you can be, know who their friends are, know who their friends’ parents are. And, like Dr. Ethier said, building that connectedness in schools and then communities through after school programs, mentorship programs, really important.

 

Mr. Haynes

Thank you Dr. Houry, Dr. Ethier, and Ms. King. This will conclude our briefing. If you have further questions, please feel free to call the main media line at 404-639-3286 or you can email media@cdc.gov. Thank you.

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