Teen Suicide & Depression Are On The Decline, According To New Study
While numbers remain unacceptably high, the decline is encouraging news for children and families.
Since 1971, the federal government has issued the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which provides an annual snapshot of how tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, as well as mental health issues affect Americans.
This year’s survey interviewed nearly 70,000 people and found some encouraging trends, particularly among young people: Not only are alcohol and tobacco use down among middle and high schoolers, but so too are suicide attempts and depressive episodes.
Information from NSDUH — which is drawn from participants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia — is not only used to monitor substance use and mental health trends, but to help inform public policy and better understand the need for prevention and treatment programs. This year’s survey explored data from 2021 to 2024.
In that time, the prevalence of serious thoughts of suicide fell from 13% of 12- to 17-year-olds to 10%. Suicide attempts also fell, but more modestly, from 3.6% to 2.7%. Furthermore, reports of major depression among this cohort fell significantly, from 21% to 15%.
Of course, 10% of young people are seriously considering suicide — if you consider the average class size in the United States is about 20 kids, that’s two children per classroom. Suicide, tragically, remains a leading cause of death among children in middle and high school. Still, any improvement in this grim statistic is good news indeed.
The report does have some limitations: It is not within the scope of NSDUH to delve into the “why” of these issues. And this year, unlike previous years, the data does not distinguish between race or ethnicity; more granular details like this could serve to better inform policy solutions. (Though the Department of Health and Human Services told NPR that such data would be released in a forthcoming report.)
There are also problems beyond the scope of this particular report. NSDUH is conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which saw enormous cuts by DOGE earlier this year, including the entire team in charge of the survey.
In May, Doctors for America warned this move could prove disastrous and that such drastic cuts “will lead to preventable loss of human life.”
