Adolescents in trouble: behavior at risk

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011–2021 provides the most recent surveillance data, as well as 10-year trends, on health behaviors and experiences among high school students in the United States (U.S.) related to adolescent health and well-being.

These include sexual behaviors, substance use, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, experiences such as violence and poor mental health, social determinants of health such as unstable housing, and protective factors such as school connectedness and parental monitoring. We also highlight disparities in these important outcomes by sex, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, and sex of sexual contacts. This report is developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) to highlight the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data collected every two years among a nationally representative sample of the U.S. high school students. DASH’s vision is one where young people in the U.S. have the knowledge, skills, and resources for healthy adolescence and adulthood. To work towards this vision, DASH: As we have seen in our previous reports, several areas of adolescent health and well-being are continuing to improve overall, including risky sexual behavior (i.e., ever and current sexual sexual activity and having four or more lifetime partners) and substance use (i.e., ever used select illicit drugs, ever misused prescription opioids, current alcohol use, and current marijuana use). We also saw a decrease in the proportion of youth who were bullied at school.