Access to in-school mental health support varies dramatically along class and race lines, with Black and low-income families far less likely to report their child鈥檚 school offers counseling and other support but are more likely to use them than their affluent, white peers. 

Just 29% of Black families and 37% of low-income families report that their child鈥檚 school offers mental health services, compared to 52% of white families and 59% of the most affluent, according to the report released last week by University of Southern California researchers. Lower income families reported using in-school mental health services more than five times as much as those with the highest incomes. 

鈥淲e often talk about mental health struggles today with teens as kind of one issue and often in generalities,鈥� said  lead author and USC researcher Amie Rapaport. 鈥溾�� I’m hopeful that differentiation will help inform interventions and services to help kids that are most in need.鈥�

The survey of 2,500 families is the latest national attempt to show the 鈥渧ery clear link鈥� between poor mental health and chronic absenteeism. Over one in five children considered chronically absent, missing 10% or more of a school year, experienced conduct problems, like losing temper or fighting with peers. About one in ten report emotional or peer struggles. 

Across the country, more than kids were chronically absent by the end of 2023. 

Researchers acknowledge the absences themselves may be creating more emotional distress, negatively impacting how students feel about themselves as learners. Regardless, the currently or on-track to be chronically absent students group struggled emotionally or behaviorally three to four times more than their peers with good attendance. 

鈥淭here are kids in need that aren’t being reached,鈥� Rapaport said. 

Among all families, one in five would have used services had they been available, though Black and Hispanic families show the highest desire. Of all families receiving services, roughly 3 in 4 are 鈥渟atisfied,鈥� saying they help. 

Teen girls, between 13 and 17, struggled most with depression and anxiety symptoms, but Black and Hispanic girls appear to be struggling less than their white and Asian peers. Pre-teen boys, particularly Black boys, are experiencing the most conduct concerns, such as increases in fighting, lying, cheating, distraction, bullying and stealing, the report found, adding detail to recent CDC reports about increases in violence and bullying. 

The findings came as somewhat of a surprise to Rapaport, who expected mental health struggles to be more evenly distributed across age and gender; and because  student mental health was a priority for many districts nationwide in spending federal pandemic relief funds in the last few years. 

She explained the disparities may have to do with access to information and care 鈥� whether or not schools are adequately reaching parents about what resources are readily available, or curbing long waiting lists. 

 鈥淐learly, policy can help better target mental health supports to meet the needs of the children who could benefit from them the most,鈥� the report stated, calling the patterns 鈥渦nfortunate.鈥�

When the Dalio Foundation released a report last October about  it said it was just the start of the work to come.

Months later, the , a 15-person group made up mainly of town mayors tasked with coming up with strategies to tackle the problem, is still developing a strategy 鈥� and doesn鈥檛 have a cost estimate for its efforts.

Still, the group says its 鈥淣orth Star鈥� goal is to get 60,000 at-risk and disconnected youth back on track within the next 10 years.

The first step was bringing awareness to the issue of the growing number of Connecticut youth, from ages 14 to 26, who were judged to be disconnected or at risk of being disconnected from school or employment, based on factors such as chronic absenteeism, behavioral issues, and leaving school without a degree or other path to employment.

The 119K Commission said it plans to release a detailed strategy in October but did not provide further details at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

鈥淭his is a process that you have to really get your arms around the scope to make sure that the strategy that you put out will truly move the needle and answer that question of, 鈥榃hat would it look like to reduce this population by 60,000?’鈥� Joe DeLong, a commission co-chair and executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, told The Connecticut Mirror. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an important measure because there are probably going to be a series of things that we would really like to happen to this strategy that ultimately may not make the cut because, as you put it through those filters, it doesn鈥檛 meet that goal.鈥�

DeLong said some initiatives 鈥� such as partnerships to work on curriculum changes to keep students better engaged, more community centers for extracurricular programs or more organizations offering wraparound services for struggling students 鈥� are being analyzed, but there wasn鈥檛 anything set in stone yet.

鈥淭he one concept I think that the whole commission has coalesced around from the beginning is that we have to create this young-person, student-centered model in terms of their needs,鈥� DeLong said.

That effort has begun with a listening tour with months of roundtables with youth from Waterbury, Stamford and Bridgeport so far.

Two more meetings are planned in Stratford and Hartford, which would total 200 youth involved in 鈥渞epresenting a mix of young people from at risk, to modernly disconnected, to severely disconnected, different ages, genders and race,鈥� and their perspectives, said Josh Brown, a co-chairperson from , a Stamford-based nonprofit that works with disconnected and disengaged youth.

鈥淭here are many insights, but there鈥檚 six big lessons that we have learned from our young people. One [is that] these young people have dreams, just like all young people. Some of them want to be doctors, real estate professionals, lawyers, entrepreneurs, photographers, police officers and even educators,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭wo [is that] charting a path to achieve their goals and dreams is often based on Google. If they鈥檙e lucky enough, they鈥檒l have a family friend or somebody that also has experience and go to them as well, but with that being said, in most cases, these young people have to be very self sufficient.鈥�

Students also said youth programs and resources are hard to navigate and that high school can feel like an obstacle when they can鈥檛 find transportation to campus, may have to take care of siblings or curriculum may not fit their interests.

鈥淥ne thing is clear and common: we all heard they鈥檙e bored,鈥� Brown said.

Young people lack a sense of community and 鈥渢here鈥檚 scarce access to recreation,鈥� Brown added. 鈥淭hey have cited a wide range of wishes, ranging from questions on how to access nature walks, going to the library on the weekend, or common comments that are limited opportunities 鈥� either because they don鈥檛 have the money, or 鈥� they just don鈥檛 know about it,鈥� including weekend activities or sport leagues.

The insight from the community so far has led to four 鈥渆merging strategic pillars鈥�: coalition, coordination, conditions and capacity, said Andrew Ferguson, a co-chairperson for Dalio Education, a grant foundation that engages with public school communities and provides funding to several nonprofits.

鈥淭hese four things are building on some existing efforts in Connecticut, but they鈥檙e also helping to build out a lot that doesn鈥檛 exist yet,鈥� Ferguson said.

DeLong said more 鈥渞eally deep dives鈥� are needed in the next three months as they finalize their strategic plan.

鈥淭here鈥檚 areas that we all think are really, really important, but they they need to wait to be explored at a later time, because they won鈥檛 be part of this initial strategy that meets the mission,鈥� DeLong said. 鈥淸There鈥檚] such a wide and important variety of areas [youth need help in] that go from housing and homelessness to food insecurity to trauma. 鈥� We need something that defines actions going forward.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 Note: The CT Mirror is a grantee of the Dalio Foundation.

In 2023, two in ten teens were bullied at school and one in ten did not attend due to safety concerns, 4% increases since 2021. Two percent more were injured or threatened at school. About one in ten experienced sexual violence, roughly the same amount as two years ago, according to 20,000 high schoolers surveyed nationwide for the latest iteration of the CDC鈥檚 Youth Risk and Behavior survey.

For the first time, the CDC鈥檚 2023 survey prompted teens to reflect on racism, unfair discipline and social media use. Nearly one third of students reported being 鈥渢reated badly or unfairly at school because of their race or ethnicity鈥� by educators or peers.

Some key indicators show 鈥減rogress鈥� in combatting the youth mental health crisis: About 10% of Black students reported attempting suicide in 2023, down from 14% in 2021. At the same time, fewer female and Hispanic students seriously considered suicide or experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2023 than in 2021. But roughly half of both groups still experience depressive symptoms, and at rates higher than national averages. 

“The data released today show improvements to a number of metrics that measure young people’s mental well-being 鈥� progress we can build on. However, this work is far from complete,鈥� said Debra Houry, chief medical officer with the agency, in a press release last week. 鈥淓very child should feel safe and supported, and CDC will continue its work to turn this data into action until we reach that goal.” 

Only about half of teens felt close to people in their school, with key demographic groups reporting being especially vulnerable: Girls, LGBTQ and Native youth were forced into or experienced risky behavior more than their peers across nearly all metrics, including substance use, physical and sexual violence, depression, and suicidality. 

The general rise in aggressive behavior, while concerning, is not particularly surprising to experts.

鈥淲e are still seeing a long-tail of effect from the height of the pandemic with kids having been isolated鈥� The ninth grader of today is still a bit less mature, not as good at problem solving, not as clear in their communication with peers, especially when it comes to conflict,鈥� said child psychologist and Boston-area schools consultant Deborah Offner.

Students’ sexual activity and drug use overall mirrored rates from 2021, significantly declining over the last decade. Fewer teens have ever had sex, from about half to one in three. But those that have engaged in more risky behavior: fewer used condoms or were tested for STIs. 

While overall declines in depressive symptoms and suicidality are not 鈥済iant,鈥� said Offner, 鈥渁s we emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, kids in my orbit are overall doing better on average than they were a few years ago. Most of that is [thanks to] the reentry into the social environment of school and activities.鈥�

Recommending stronger health education and opportunities for young people to build relationships, belonging at school, the CDC urged schools to . Some ideas for schools include facilitating mentorship or advisory opportunities for older students to be role models for younger students, who may be feeling lost in their first years in high school, and training all school staff to be strong listeners, 鈥渂ecause you never know who a kid is going to tap into,鈥� Offner said. 

Below are five key findings from the report: 

1. Violence and bullying increased 2% and 4%, respectively, from 2021 to 2023, with about one in ten avoiding school for safety concerns and two in ten being bullied. 

Sexual violence was as prevalent in 2023 as it was in 2021: roughly one in ten teens. Girls and LGBTQ youth were more likely than their peers to experience sexual and physical violence. 

The frequency of bullying at school, students report, increased 4% since 2021, bumping back up to pre-pandemic levels. LGBTQ students experienced bullying the most of any subgroup, with three in ten having been bullied and two in ten missing school because of safety fears.

2. 2023 saw a 2% decline in the share of kids persistently sad, hopeless or making suicide plans, but significantly more experience depression symptoms than did in 2013.

Four in ten teens on average reported consistent depression symptoms, up from three in ten just a decade ago. While 4% fewer girls experienced such symptoms than and 3% less seriously considered suicide than in 2021, the proportion of girls experiencing depressive symptoms is much higher than their peers: over five in ten, 53%.

Among LGBTQ youth, six in ten felt persistently sad or hopeless, and two in ten attempted suicide.

Offner said while social media is often scapegoated as the core driver of depressive symptoms, the most common reasons youth cite as causes of internal conflicts are family or friend-related, like witnessing parents鈥� economic uncertainty or emotional instability, and working through friendship disagreements. 

Many, she added, are also feeling climate anxiety and worried about material needs more than other generations 鈥� their parents placing intense pressure to succeed academically and go onto lucrative careers. 

However social media does serve as a 鈥渟ocial comparison accelerator,鈥� she said, where teens may compare themselves to others or feel bad about being excluded from activities. 

Native teens 鈥� the subgroup spending least amount of time on social media according to the CDC, with about half using it several times a day 鈥� are still the subgroup experiencing highest rates of poor mental health and persistent depressive symptoms. 

3. One third of teens experienced racism, and nearly two in ten reported being unfairly disciplined. 

With the CDC asking for the first time, 32% of high school students reported being 鈥渢reated badly or unfairly in school because of their race.鈥� Asian, multiracial, and Black students reported this more often than peers, at 57%, 49%, and 46% respectively.

On average, 19% of teens were 鈥渦nfairly disciplined鈥� at school in 2023, with male, Native, Black and multiracial students reporting at a rate 3-13% above average. One in three Native youth reported being unfairly disciplined, more than any other race or ethnicity.

4. No significant changes in teens鈥� sexual behavior since 2021. Overall, students are having less sex than in 2013. 

While three in ten teens reported having had sex, down from about five in ten a decade ago; only a third used some form of oral birth control, and half used condoms. 

Six percent of teens polled had four or more sexual partners in 2023, compared to 15% the decade prior. 

Some reasons for the decline may be increased immaturity, said Offner, which is impacting kids鈥� relationship experience. She has also witnessed more young people express ownership of their bodies and wanting to go slowly in their sexual experiences, 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e learning from the mistakes of previous generations, too.鈥� 

5. Alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug consumption is declining. But vulnerable student populations 鈥� LGBTQ, Native youth, and girls 鈥� used more than their peers. 

In 2023, about 22% of teens reported drinking alcohol, a significant decrease from 35% ten years prior. The number is slightly higher for girls, with about one in four drinking. While the proportion of Black kids drinking increased from 2021 to 2023, their rate is still under average, at 17%. 

Roughly the same amount used marijuana as did two years ago, about 17%, down from 23% in 2013.

Only about one in ten used illicit drugs, like psychedelics and stimulants, or misused prescription opioids. Teens鈥� illicit drug use has declined 6% overall in the last decade. 

Offner observed teens today are a little more health cautious, and have witnessed more siblings and peers practice sobriety intentionally. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much more acceptable to say that you don’t use them or aren’t interested in using them,鈥� she added. 

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Additional resources are available at . For LGBTQ mental health support, you can contact toll-free support line at 866-488-7386.

Top challenges in more than half of the country鈥檚 schools were students being unprepared or disruptive in the classroom, according to the Department of Education鈥檚 research arm in . 

For 40-45% of schools, student learning and staff morale was also limited by students鈥� 鈥渢rouble鈥� working with partners or in groups and use of cell phones, laptops, or other tech when not permitted. In 75% of schools, students鈥� 鈥渓ack of focus鈥� moderately or severely negatively impacted learning and staff morale. 

Fighting and bullying were also pervasive: In about one in five schools, physical fights occurred about once a month, while weapons were confiscated at 45% of schools. Thirty percent report cyberbullying is a weekly occurrence; for 11%, it is daily.

Researchers say while overall, key adverse student behaviors have been on a downswing compared to prior generations, such as illicit drug use, violent crime and teen birth rates, several forces are compounding for students and impacting their wellbeing: High rates of trauma, a fraught political climate, and feeling they are being left behind, or unseen in school.

鈥淟ook what these students have gone through 鈥� not only the pandemic, through wars. Through a tumultuous, divisive political environment in the last six or seven years that’s only intensifying between right and left, between Black and white, between immigrant and non-immigrant. [Those separations] are filtering into schools and classes, perhaps with an awareness that we have not had before,鈥� said Ron Astor, UCLA professor of social welfare and expert on bullying, school violence and culture. 

Students are also witnessing state legislatures and local school boards limit what classrooms can and cannot teach, leading them to question whether they belong in their school, he said. The atmosphere is impacting families across the political divide: 鈥淚f parents and society see the school as teaching the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, if you’re not reflected in that school 鈥� that’s going to impact your attention, too.鈥� 

From coast to coast, districts are weighing phone bans amid rising concerns about bullying and distractions. But some researchers say solely nixing phones without boosting mental health supports or addressing overall school culture wouldn鈥檛 curb the negative attitudes students may be forming about school and the purpose of their education. 

Astor said some young people are experiencing conditions like ADHD, depression and PTSD, which can manifest in dissociation. Lack of focus can also stem from feeling irrelevance, either that the subject matter is not important to their future or that some part of who they are is not represented at school.

Framing students鈥� inability to focus as the cause for delay in learning recovery, 鈥渋gnores the fact of why they’re maybe not motivated, why they’re not connected as they should be, why they don’t see themselves in the curriculum,鈥� he added. 鈥淲hy, when they did see themselves, they’re being taken out or not allowed to say or do things because they’re part of an oppressed group,鈥� referencing book bans, history challenges, and restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion curricula and positions. 

Astor and Johanna Lacoe, research director with the California Policy Lab, point to several ways school leaders can address these behavioral concerns: stronger classroom management training for teachers and keeping counselor, nurse, psychologist and social worker roles filled. 

鈥淵oung people who are in the classroom and who are behind, frustrated and struggling are just so much more likely to check out,鈥� said Lacoe, a commissioner on San Francisco鈥檚 Juvenile Probation Commission. 鈥淔or a teacher with 33 kids, who has maybe not that much experience managing a classroom, to teach to the range of abilities that present themselves with no support, is what we’re currently asking teachers to do.鈥�

How schools handle disciplinary action after cyberbullying, violent behavior, and disruptions can greatly impact student perceptions of school. Lacoe pointed to several models that help students feel belonging after an incident such as in lieu of suspensions for low-level infractions, particularly as school leaders鈥� concerns about chronic absenteeism grow.  

In the , schools provide services such as healthcare, behavioral and housing support to children and families.

There are models at work where, 鈥測ou’re always telling a student that they belong here even in the time of this [adverse] behavior 鈥� that they can make right what happened through a process, inclusive of the people involved,鈥� Lacoe said. 鈥淵ou can figure out a way to resolve it that works for everyone and if possible, keeps the young person engaged at school.鈥�

The vast majority of school leaders surveyed in late May by the National Center for Education Statistics – over 80% – agree the pandemic鈥檚 impacts are still lingering, negatively impacting the behavioral and socioemotional development of their students. At least 90% of public schools reported offerings for students since 2021. 

Students, including Astor鈥檚 own undergraduates, are asking, 鈥溾�榃here do I fit in this world? How do I fit in society?鈥� … I think all of this impacts your ability to focus and your attention, including your motivation.鈥�

Chris Riback:聽Ken, welcome to the ELN studio.

Ken Dodge:聽Good morning.

Chris Riback: Thanks for coming by.

Ken Dodge:聽Yes, thank you.

Chris Riback: Congratulations on the biennial. How’s it going so far?

Ken Dodge: It’s going very well. We have over 6,000 people here and there’s a lot of sessions going on, so a lot of excitement.

Chris Riback: The theme this year is international, interdisciplinary and relevant. Connect that for me to early childhood development.

Ken Dodge: The Society’s very interested in child development and developmental science, and then science to action, how that could have an impact. Interdisciplinary is a natural because child development involved many disciplines. Psychology, sociology, psychiatry, pediatrics, economics, you name it. International because we’re in a global society, and then relevance because we’re trying to bring that basic scientific knowledge to bear on practice, policy and public attention.

Chris Riback: Isn’t that such an important component of the research, to make it practical and actionable, make it tangible for parents, for practitioners?

Ken Dodge: Absolutely important. One of the things we’ve learned, the hard way, but learned over time, is that it used to be that academic researchers thought that the direction of communication was one-way, where we academics would learn something and then we would lay it upon the public. We’ve learned that the public needs to be involved from the very beginning so they could tell us what to research, tell us what the problems are, tell us what the perspectives are. We’ve really established two-way partnerships.

Chris Riback: Also, I would assume the translational process for any researcher to see the research, see the insights, in action and have them applied in a house, in a school, in a community, has got to make a big difference.

Ken Dodge: It makes a big difference. Having that two-way communication right from the beginning will help the interventions that we develop be relevant, be able to be disseminated, be able to have an impact. In my own career, I’ve developed interventions early on that seemed wonderful but could never be implemented in a practical and a community setting. So I’ve learned right from the very beginning to be thinking about interventions that could be disseminated.

Chris Riback: Let’s talk about your research. First of all, I read 500 scientific articles, 90,000 or more than that citations. Do you charge royalties?

Ken Dodge: No.

Chris Riback: Because there’s a side business. Once-

Ken Dodge: Nobody’s getting wealthy here.

Chris Riback: Well, once we’re done with this, I think there’s a royalty business that you’re missing out on with 90,000 citations.

Ken Dodge: Yeah, yeah.

Chris Riback: The heart of your research, or at least one area, you’ve been instrumental in understanding the development and prevention of aggressive and violent behaviors.

Ken Dodge: Right.

Chris Riback: I mean, I know as a layperson what that means, but tell me kind of clinically, in language that I can understand, what that means and-

Ken Dodge: Yes. Very briefly, when I was young, growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I saw a lot of kids getting into trouble, and became interested in how to prevent them from becoming juvenile delinquents. So I did a lot of research on how it is that kids come to be aggressive, and did some interventions. But then over time I got frustrated that that was even too late. One of the early factors leading some children to come to be delinquents was their early-life experiences in disruptive homes, being the victims of child abuse, being the victims of a lot of stressful environments, so I became very interested in preventing child abuse as a way to prevent children from growing up to be aggressive and violent themselves. So for the last 15 years or so, my interests have really been on prevention of child abuse.

Chris Riback: You also developed a framework for intervening early to prevent the costly consequences of violence for children and their communities. Describe that framework.

Ken Dodge: One of the things that psychologists have done is to develop interventions, but if we apply them to only 50 children in a community, we’re not really having an impact on the community. So around 2000, I became very interested in public health, in approaches to having population impact. We searched for a while for the silver bullet intervention, and there is not one. One of the things we’ve learned is that children come to be aggressive, and parents come to be abusive, in many different ways.

Chris Riback: So much can go into.

Ken Dodge: So much.

Chris Riback:聽Talk about interdisciplinary. So many impacts.

Ken Dodge: That’s right.

Chris Riback:聽What is Durham Connects, and how important is that to you?

Ken Dodge:聽It’s very important to me right now. Durham Connects started in Durham, North Carolina, with this idea of, how could we have a public health impact? We learned and noticed around the year 2000 that Durham, North Carolina, had a very high child abuse rate, especially in the first couple of years of life. It was higher than the state of North Carolina average, which was higher than the national average. Had to do with poverty, had to do with a lot of drug use and a lot of violence in the community.

Ken Dodge: So we embarked on a 20-year period to try to figure out want to do about it. We made a lot of attempts, a lot of failures I could tell you about, but that’s the way things go. We were very fortunate to have long-term financial funding from the Duke Endowment, a fabulous organization, and they invested in us.

Ken Dodge: Ultimately, we arrived on this idea of reaching every family at birth, in the hospital where they give birth, and then in their homes several weeks after. Reach out to them, congratulate them on the birth, but then try to understand what their needs are. We use nurses. They’re wonderful. What we learned is that every mother and father loves a nurse coming into their home to help them. So the nurse does that in several hours, gets to know the family, and tries to understand what their needs are. Then we try to bring community resources to meet their needs.

Chris Riback: Ken, to close out, because I want to let you get back to this show you’re running-

Ken Dodge: Sure.

Chris Riback:聽There’s 6,000 people waiting for you, you know. Big picture, I looked at the Center for Child and Family Policy, which you helped start. One part of it that caught my eye is the focus the Center puts on engaging with policymakers.

Ken Dodge:聽Yes.

Chris Riback: What’s your view of where our policymakers are in terms of understanding and supporting the important ideals behind early childhood development?

Ken Dodge:聽Surveys show that overwhelmingly, more than three quarters of American public favors greater investments in early childhood. They get the message. So if we’re scientifically evidence-based and thinking about economic efficiency, I have found policymakers really to be embracing what we’re doing. Durham Connects program, we now call Family Connects as we disseminate it nationally, and we’re in three dozen communities across the country that are interested, so policymakers are right on board.

Chris Riback:聽That’s great to hear. Well, thank you. Thank you for your work, and thank you for stopping by the ELN studio.

Ken Dodge: Thank you for doing this. Appreciate you being here.