Student Well-Being What the Research Says

CDC: Teens’ Mental Health Showing Small Signs of Improving

By Sarah D. Sparks — May 15, 2023 2 min read
Young female teenager sitting hugging her knees and looking sad.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency, but pandemic-related mental health problems are far from over.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest mental health emergencies among adolescents have fallen somewhat compared to 2021, but the rate of girls with severe mental health problems remains significantly higher than it was in 2019.

Prior studies have found the combination of school and social disruptions, more screen time, and even lingering effects from the coronavirus itself can all worsen teenagers’ risks of mental health problems.

Mental health problems continue to be one of the biggest challenges interfering with learning recovery since the pandemic; more than half of teachers now report mental health problems make classroom management more difficult and hurt their students’ academic and social-emotional learning.

Statistics tell a complex story

CDC researchers track the weekly emergency room visits among those 12 to 17 for suicidal behaviors and drug overdoses, among other mental health problems. They found that by fall 2022, overall mental health emergencies had dropped 11 percent to a mean of nearly 6,500 a week. Attempted suicides and similar behaviors fell 12 percent, to a mean of more than 4,200 a week, compared to fall 2021. Similarly, teenagers had fewer hospital visits related to anxiety, depression, or attention disorders in 2022 than in 2021.

Emergencies related to eating disorders have risen among both boys and girls since the pandemic, but girls still vastly outnumber boys, with a mean of about 100 emergency room visits a week, compared to 14 for boys.

Also, while drug overdoses in general have fallen about 10 percent, to a mean of about 860 per week, those involving opioids jumped by 10 percent, or 16 per week, for girls, and 40 percent, or a mean of 23 a week, for boys between 2021 and 2022.

While teenagers have rebounded since the height of school disruptions, the CDC found girls still show higher rates of mental health emergencies than they had before the pandemic, and boys’ emergency rates are about the same.

“Poor mental and behavioral health remains a substantial public health problem, particularly among adolescent females,” researchers said. “Early identification and trauma-informed interventions, coupled with expanded evidence-based, comprehensive prevention efforts, are needed to support adolescents’ mental and behavioral health.”

The CDC credited improvements in mental health in part to schools’ widescale increases in mental health supports, from providing more access to therapists and social workers, to teacher training to support students with anxiety—even, in some cases, school building redesign.

Related Tags:

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Gathering Student Perspectives Is a Powerful Teaching Tool—And It’s Never Been Easier
Students’ input on school can be a gold mine of information for teachers.
4 min read
An illustration of a figure analyzing speech bubbles made of a technology / futuristic pattern of lines and dots.
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Quiz: What Are the Best Ways to Fight Chronic Absenteeism?
What does the research say about fighting absenteeism? What gets in the way of students attending school? Quiz yourself!
1 min read
Scarce classroom of students taking exams at their desks with empty desks in the foreground.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Student Well-Being The Number of Students Getting Free School Meals Is in Flux. Why?
New York has become the latest state to make school meals free to all students regardless of income.
5 min read
Cafeteria worker Nuria Alvarenga serves lunch to students through a service window at Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, Calif. on April 3, 2024. Demand for school lunches has increased after California guaranteed free meals to all students regardless of their family's income.
Cafeteria worker Nuria Alvarenga serves lunch to students through a service window at Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, Calif. on April 3, 2024. Demand for school lunches has increased after California guaranteed free meals to all students.
Richard Vogel/AP
Student Well-Being Student Well-Being Report Shows How Kids Are Doing in Education and Beyond
Student well-being has seen some progress, but education continues to decline.
5 min read
Students work together on an assignment about ecosystems and environmental impacts during a 7th grade science class.
Students work together on an assignment about ecosystems and environmental impacts during a 7th grade science class. Education continues to decline in the latest report on children's well-being.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed