And about three-quarters of LGB high schoolers (76%) said they felt sad or hopeless almost daily for at least two weeks such that they stopped doing some of their usual activities, compared with 37% of heterosexual students. More than half of LGB students (55%) said they experienced poor mental health at least most of the time in the 30 days before the survey, while 26% of heterosexual teens said the same. The share of LGB high schoolers who said their mental health was not good most of the time or always during the pandemic was more than double that of heterosexual students (64% vs. High school students who are gay, lesbian or bisexual reported higher rates of mental health stresses than their heterosexual (straight) peers. (Not all of the survey questions asked specifically about mental health during the pandemic.) In addition, 44% said that, in the previous 12 months, they felt sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row such that they stopped doing some usual activities. About three-in-ten high school students (31%) said they experienced poor mental health most or all of the time in the 30 days before the survey. In the survey, “poor mental health” includes stress, anxiety and depression. Overall, 37% of students at public and private high schools reported that their mental health was not good most or all of the time during the pandemic, according to the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, which was fielded from January to June 2021.

The results from this one-time survey are not directly comparable to previous CDC surveys on these topics. More information about the survey and its methodology can be found on the CDC’s website. ABES surveyed high school students in grades 9-12 attending U.S. This analysis relies on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), which was conducted from January to June 2021 to assess students’ health-related behaviors and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not all of the survey questions asked specifically about mental health during the pandemic. adults’ mental health difficulties during this time. It expands on Pew Research Center surveys that have explored U.S. high school students’ self-reported mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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