Background: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected adolescent mental health due to school closures, isolation, family loss/hardships, and reduced health care access. Methods: We compared adolescent mental health in Rhode Island before versus during the pandemic, separately among middle and high schoolers. This serial cross-sectional study used…

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, and statistics. IES's National Center for Education Research (NCER) supports rigorous research that addresses the nation's most pressing education needs from early…

Background: While more than 2.5 million U.S. high students worked in 2020, data to assess how work affects this group are sparse. To facilitate such research, a set of occupational safety and health questions for inclusion on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and other youth-focused surveys was developed. Methods: Survey…

This study examined how changes in cumulative peer victimization are associated with depressed mood and suicidality among adolescents over time, as well as whether certain protective factors (e.g., school mattering) moderate these associations. Middle and high school students (N = 2,539) from a small city in the Great Plains responded to five…

The original Social Emotional Distress Survey--Secondary (SEDS-S) assesses adolescents' past month's experiences of psychological distress. Given the continued need for and use of brief measures of student social-emotional distress, this study examined a five-item version (SEDS-S-Brief) to evaluate its use for surveillance of adolescents' wellness…

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can impair health and other outcomes. To obtain district-level data about the prevalence and impact of ACEs in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), we advocated for CPS to add a short ACE screener to the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and analyzed the results. Methods: Responses to the screener…

Background: Food insecurity (FI) is a significant predictor of feelings of isolation in children, as well as suicide ideation and depression. Using a census of public middle school-aged children, we seek to determine whether FI is associated with suicide ideation and feelings of hopelessness and how individual and school community factors can…

Objective: To examine the association of multiple health behaviors to mental health functioning in male and female collegiate athletes. Participants: Prospective National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes (n = 183) completed a health and wellness survey in the summer prior to joining the athletic program. Methods: Health…

School safety has become central to the educational goals and missions of schools on almost every continent (Astor & Benbenishty, 2018). Equally important is supporting the social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students. School counselors have specific training to help students navigate the challenges of distance learning and…

Background: Approximately 8.8% of US high school students attended private schools in 2015. Few studies have characterized health risk behaviors among these students or compared prevalence of behaviors between students in private and public schools using a contemporary, nationally representative sample. Methods: Pooled 2007-2017 national Youth…

Montana is proud to have completed over three decades of participation in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). These results are valuable to educators, school boards, and communities, including parents and students, in understanding the health risks of Montana students, enabling districts to design local health and physical education curriculum…

This Summary Report complements the 2019 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report and contains information regarding risk behaviors of Montana youth in relation to: (1) Unintentional injuries and violence; (2) Tobacco use; (3) Alcohol and other drug use; (4) Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted…

Montana is proud to have completed over three decades of participation in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). These results are valuable to educators, school boards, and communities, including parents and students, in understanding the health risks of Montana students, enabling districts to design local health and physical education curriculum…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

Background: Sexting, the sharing of sexually suggestive photos, may be a gateway behavior to early sexual activity and increase the likelihood of social ostracism. Methods: Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 6021) data from 2015 among Pennsylvania 9th-12th grade students were used to examine associations between consensual and nonconsensual sexting…