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Axios Raleigh
North Carolina Youth mental health makes post-pandemic rebound
By Lucille ShermanApril Rubin,
2024-07-09
Youth mental health in North Carolina has made overall improvements after major pandemic dips and nearly a decade of decline, new data shows.
Why it matters: The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare students' struggles as well as a fractured system to help them navigate recovery.
Youth mental health was already on the downturn before the pandemic, which exacerbated the problem.
Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said young people are in a decade-long mental health crisis.
State of play: North Carolina was one of seven states identified by Axios where surveys showed lower rates of sadness and hopelessness in published 2023 data.
Overall, dedicating more resources to student well-being during the pandemic has started to pay off, Kathleen Ethier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Adolescent and School Health, told Axios.
"These improvements, they're not huge, but they are important," she said.
Data: Axios research; Note: Includes states with Youth Risk Behavior Survey data published as of June 2024; Washington data is an average of 10th and 12th grade results (unavailable for 2019); Chart: Axios Visuals
How it works: North Carolina administers a list of CDC-created questions to a random sample of high school students every other year.
Answers are anonymous and students can opt out.
By the numbers: Some 43% of North Carolina high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless on five of the last seven days in a 2021 survey — an increase of 7% from 2019.
Last year, that number decreased: 39% of high schoolers surveyed reporting feelings of sadness or hopeless.
Middle schoolers reported a similar decrease — 35% said they felt sad or hopeless in 2021, compared with 32% last year.
Zoom in: The percentage of high school students who seriously considered suicide also dropped to 18% (2023) from 22% (2021).
North Carolina high school students used fewer vape products, marijuana and alcohol in this same time period.
The intrigue: More high school and middle school students in North Carolina reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes five or more days a week.
Improvements were also attributed to local, state and federal investments into school counselors and establishing school-based mental health policies, said Ellen Essick, the section chief for the state's healthy schools and specialized instructional support.
Worth noting: When the state expanded Medicaid last year, it received a "signing bonus" from the federal government.
In turn, the state has invested hundreds of millions in mental health services that support children, state health department Secretary Kody Kinsley tells Axios.
"We're glad to see early indicators of improvement. But building a continuum of care and normalizing the conversations about mental health must continue," Kinsley said. "This can't be a quick fix, we have to keep at it."
The bottom line: "We have a lot of work to continue doing," Essick said.
"It's not a time to rest on our laurels, but it's a time to keep pushing forward and thinking about all the things we can do to support our students and our staff."
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