‘Youth are in crisis’: Mental health of US high school students worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, CDC survey finds

(CNN) - Mental health concerns among high school students in the United States were exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to survey results published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been significant increases in high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, considering suicide or attempting suicide over the past decade -- and findings from the new CDC survey suggest youth mental health was even worse during the pandemic.

Overall, more than a third (37%) of high school students in the United States experienced poor mental health at least most of the time during the Covid-19 pandemic, the CDC survey found. More than two out of five students (44%) had felt persistent sadness or hopelessness that caused them to stop doing some usual activities. About one in five seriously considered suicide, and about one in 10 students had attempted suicide.

Poor mental health was most prevalent among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth, as well as female high school students, the CDC survey found.

"Youth are in crisis," Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC's division of adolescent and school health, said during a media briefing Thursday.

"This data and others like it show us that young people and their families have been under incredible levels of stress during the pandemic. Our data exposes cracks and uncovers an important layer of insight into the extreme disruptions that some youth have encountered during the pandemic."

Students who said they felt close to people at school, or felt virtually connected, were significantly less likely to report poor mental health during the pandemic, the CDC survey found.

Gay, lesbian and bisexual students were less likely than heterosexual students to feel connected to people at school.

And more than a third of high school students -- including nearly two-thirds of Asian students and more than half of Black students -- reported experiencing racism before or during the pandemic. Those who said they'd been treated badly or unfairly in school because of their race or ethnicity were also less likely to feel connected to people at school, and more likely to experience poor mental health, difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions.

Last year, the CDC declared racism a serious public health threat.