Students in Wisconsin reported alarming levels of anxiety and depression last year, while considering more than a year of COVID’s impact on their families’ livelihoods, the health of loved ones and their school routines.
About 52% of Wisconsin high school students surveyed in fall 2021 said that in the past year they had had significant issues feeling very anxious, nervous, tense, scared, or like something was wrong. serious was about to happen, according to the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
A growing number of students have also reported symptoms of depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. At the same time, students were also less likely to say they could get the emotional support they needed, especially students of color and LGBT students.
The findings, the first picture of Wisconsin student mental health since the pandemic began, were released by the Department of Public Instruction on Tuesday with a call for “drastic action.”
“I implore you to imagine a child in your life and consider that it is him, and if not, it could very well be his friend, or your neighbor’s child who suffers from this injury and this isolation,” said Jill Underly, superintendent of state schools. in a report. “We have to do better.”
A Stanford University study recently found that youth assessed within two years of the start of the pandemic had more severe mental health issues and advanced brain aging, compared to youth assessed before the pandemic.
DPI leaders also drew attention to disparities between LGBTQ+ students and students of color, noting in particular the recent wave of policies limiting the rights of transgender students.
“For some subgroups of our students, the world at large is not a very safe space,” said Abigail Swetz, director of communications at DPI. “We want to make sure we can create that safe space in our schools and make sure they foster a sense of belonging.”
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is sent every two years to a sample of schools across the country selected to inform county, state and national reports, including 43 Wisconsin high schools. National results have yet to be shared for 2021.
Any school or district can also choose to use the YRBS in any year and choose to make their individual results public.
MPS made its results public until 2018, but has not shared results since then. District spokeswoman Nicole Armendariz said the MPS had not compiled official reports in recent years “due to understaffing in that department”, although she said staff had used the results to inform his work.
Two questions about COVID have been added to the 2021 survey, asking students about people they know who got sick or lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Most students knew people hospitalized or killed by COVID
In fall 2021, about 54% of high school students in Wisconsin reported knowing at least one person who was hospitalized or killed by COVID. Students of color were more likely to know someone, compared to 52% of white students:
- 54% of black students
- 63% of Hispanic and Latino students
- 67% of Asian students
Figures for Milwaukee County, where 39 public high schools were surveyed, were slightly lower overall, for a total of 53%, and were particularly lower for students of color compared to state figures:
- 53% white students
- 47% of black students
- 59% of Hispanic and Latino students
- 52% of Asian students
- 57% of Native American students
However, students of color in Milwaukee County were more likely to say they knew more than four people hospitalized or killed by COVID: about 7% of white students and more than 9% of all other groups.
Nearly a quarter of students saw adults in their home lose their jobs, half had their own jobs
About 25% of Wisconsin high school students said their parent or another adult in their household lost their job during the pandemic, among those whose parent or other adult had a job before the pandemic.
Students of color were again disproportionately affected, compared to 22% of white students:
- 22% of Asian students
- 26% of black students
- 32% of Hispanic and Latino students
The numbers were slightly lower for Milwaukee County, totaling about 22% of all students:
- 18% white students
- 18% of Native American students
- 20% black students
- 26% of Asian students
- 27% of Hispanic and Latino students
At the same time, about half of Wisconsin high school students said they had worked during the pandemic. The state results did not break down the number of hours students worked in those jobs, while the Milwaukee County results did.
About 37% of Milwaukee County high school students reported working at least one hour a week, with 10% working 10 to 19 hours a week and 7% working more than 20 hours a week.
Growing Mental Health Challenges
A new question about anxiety, added in 2017, then revealed that about 40% of high school students in Wisconsin reported in the past 12 months that they had significant problems feeling anxious, nervous, tense, scared or as if something bad was going to happen. This figure increased to 49% in 2019 and 52% in 2021.
Another area of concern: About 34% of high school students in the state said that in the past 12 months they had felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row that they had stopped doing certain usual activities, which are considered symptoms of depression. That’s up from 29% in 2019.
Self-harm rates have also increased, with about 22% of high school students in Wisconsin saying they had done something to hurt themselves on purpose in the past 12 months, but did not want to die.
About 18% of high school students said they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months, and 9% said they had tried – the highest number in at least a decade.
Bullying — except for LGB students
In a more encouraging trend, the YRBS has shown a continued decline in bullying on school property, with approximately 18% of Wisconsin high school students reporting having been bullied at school in the past few years. last 12 months, compared to around 22% in 2019.
This could be partly due to virtual learning in the 2020-21 school year, DPI staff said, noting that bullying typically occurs in spaces without as much structured supervision, such as hallways, playgrounds and bus rides.
Electronic bullying has also decreased to around 16% of students, from around 17% in 2019.
But bullying rates were significantly higher among students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. About a third of these students said they had been bullied at school and about 27% had been bullied electronically. Around 16% said they had missed school at least once in the past month because they felt unsafe at school or on their commute.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual students also reported much higher rates of anxiety (81%), symptoms of depression (66%) and suicidal thoughts (48%).
For some educators, it confirms their worries since the start of the pandemic, when students may have lost ties with the most supportive people in their lives.
“One of my first thoughts was, uh oh, these LGBTQ kids don’t have those school supports anymore, and that’s when we thought it was for two weeks,” said Molly Herrmann, education consultant for DPI. “I was like, god, I hope some of them are in a supportive home, knowing full well a lot of them aren’t.”
The state results did not include numbers specifically for transgender students. Milwaukee County results included transgender students in an LGBT category and found similar trends: About 30% of LGBT students reported being bullied at school or electronically, compared to 13% of straight students cisgender.
LGB students, students of color even less likely to get the help they need, feel like they belong at school
While all students in 2021 expressed less sense of belonging to school and less ability to get emotional support than in previous years, it was worse for LGB students and students of color.
About 61% of high school students in Wisconsin said they felt like they belonged at their school, up from about 71% in 2017. Only 29% of LGB students said the same.
It was also lower for students of color, with Hispanic and Latino students least likely to say they felt like they belonged at school: about 51%.
Also down in 2021: Only about 22% of high school students in the state said they could usually get the kind of help they needed, among those who said they felt sad, empty, hopeless, angry or anxious. Only 18% of LGB students say the same.
Among students of color, less than 21% said they could get the help they needed, including only 14% of Hispanic and Latino students.
National education officials say more help is needed
DPI officials said the numbers point to a mental health crisis and called for backing the department’s budget request for more support, including about $236 million for mental health services in schools.
“There’s work to be done, and that work requires money,” Swetz said. “We have a responsibility to see this data and react to it.”
Additionally, Underly encouraged school leaders to use DPI guidance to foster safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students.
“Learning environments that foster a sense of belonging take on a different meaning for LGBTQ+ kids and students of color because the world as a whole isn’t always safe for them,” Underly said in a statement. “The reality is that the hateful rhetoric and misguided policies are only exacerbating the stress this vulnerable student population is already feeling.”
Swetz also called on all adults to think about how they support young people in their communities and to consider the weight of their words, especially for marginalized students.
“When there’s rhetoric that’s so divisive and so hateful, everyone listens to it, and that includes kids,” Swetz said.
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
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