Every two years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) puts out a survey of American youth to track trends in the health and well-being of American youth – including sexual behavior, substance use, experiences of violence, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

CDC has just released its Youth Risk Behavior Summary Report – Data Summary & Trends Report 2011-2021. It analyzes responses from 17,000 adolescents at high schools across the United States. It also highlights ten-year trends in teen behaviors and experiences.

Some highlights of the report’s findings – excerpted directly from the CDC website – are listed below:

• “Overall, young people are experiencing a level of trauma and distress that requires action.”
• “Although the data show a few behaviors and experiences moving in the right direction, the increases in harmful experiences among adolescents are striking.”
• “Risky sexual behaviors are decreasing, but so are important protective behaviors like condom use, HIV testing, and STD testing.”
• “Substance use is generally decreasing, but still too high.”
• “Experiences of violence, including sexual violence, are not declining and in some cases are increasing.”
• “Poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors are increasing for nearly all groups of youth.”
• “Female students and LGBQ+ students are experiencing alarming rates of violence, poor mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. (Because the 2021 national YRBS did not have a question assessing gender identity, this report does not highlight data specifically on students who identify as transgender.)”
• “Across almost all measures of substance use, experiences of violence, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, female students are faring more poorly than male students. These differences, and the rates at which female students are reporting such negative experiences, are stark.”
• “The rates of experiencing bullying, sexual violence, poor mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors indicate a need for urgent intervention.”
• Some differences between students across racial and ethnic groups have lessened, but there are still concerning disparities.
• “Data show that school environments, which are influenced by how teachers manage classrooms, programs to support positive youth development, and policies and practices that support LGBTQ+ students, can have a strong and lifelong effect on areas where youth are struggling now, including mental health.”
• “School connectedness, defined in this report as feeling close to people at school, has a long-lasting, protective impact for adolescents well into adulthood.”

Read the Executive Summary or the Youth Risk Behavior Summary Report in its entirety here.

Download a copy of the report here.

Learn more about how school connectedness – feeling close to people at school – helps teens thrive.

Or discover what parents can do to help protect their teens from risky behavior.