The share who seriously considered attempting suicide fell from 22 to 14 percent and the share who attempted suicide fell from 10 to 6 percent, the lowest levels in ten years.
Five of six indicators of mental health and suicide risk improved between 2023 and 2025.
The share who ate fruit daily rose from 33 to 39 percent and the share who ate vegetables daily rose from 58 to 63 percent between 2023 and 2025.
Fewer feel sad or hopeless
Fewer American high school students experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. In 2021, 42 percent of students did. In 2025, the share was 33 percent. The figures come from Youth Health in Focus, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
The question asks whether, during the past 12 months, students felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities.
Most of the decline happened between 2023 and 2025. In 2023, the share was 40 percent. The 2025 level was the lowest since 2017, when 31 percent answered yes.
Fewer students also say their mental health was not good most of the time or always during the past 30 days. The share fell from 29 percent in 2023 to 23 percent in 2025.
Suicidal thoughts have declined
The share of students who seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year fell from 22 percent in 2021 to 14 percent in 2025. Over the same period, the share who made a suicide plan fell from 18 to 12 percent. The share who attempted suicide fell from 10 to 6 percent.
In 2025, all three indicators were at their lowest level during the ten-year period the report covers, from 2015 to 2025.
The share of students who were injured in a suicide attempt that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse was 1 percent in 2025. In 2015, it was 3 percent.
Between 2023 and 2025, five of the six mental health and suicide risk indicators that CDC tracks improved. Jennifer Shuford, CDC's deputy director and chief medical officer, says the results show that progress is possible when schools, families, and communities work together.
The same trend among young adults
In May 2025, we wrote that young Americans were doing better. That article was mainly about college students and young adults. The share of college students with symptoms of depression had fallen from 44 percent in 2022 to 38 percent in 2024. In that article, we noted that about 40 percent of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021. Now the same trend is showing up in that group too.
This is not the first time CDC data have shown improvements among American teenagers. In August, we reported that they are drinking, smoking, and fighting less and less. The share of high school students who drank alcohol fell from half in 1991 to 22 percent in 2023.
More eat vegetables and play on sports teams
The report also tracks students' dietary behaviors, physical activity, sleep, and digital behaviors. Several indicators improved between 2023 and 2025.
The share who ate fruit daily rose from 33 to 39 percent. The share who ate vegetables daily rose from 58 to 63 percent. The share who drank plain water at least three times a day rose from 54 to 58 percent. The share who played on at least one sports team during the past year rose from 52 to 58 percent.
Students' social media use stayed at about the same level. In 2025, 36 percent of students used social media at least once an hour, compared with 37 percent in 2023. A British study of 25,629 adolescents aged 11 to 14, which we wrote about in January, found no evidence that more time on social media or gaming leads to more anxiety or depression.
More than 10,000 students responded
CDC has conducted the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for more than 35 years. The survey is done every two years among students in grades 9 through 12. The sample is designed to represent all students in grades 9 through 12 in the United States.
In 2025, usable questionnaires came from 10,710 students at 108 schools. Students answered anonymously and voluntarily on a tablet during one class period. The report was published on September 21, 2026.
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