Today I am starting a conversation about our youth in crisis by presenting some of the findings of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey put out by the CDC on February 13, 2023. The report covers 5 areas, sexual behavior, substance use, experience of violence, mental health & suicidality, and new and emerging national data.
In regards to these 5 areas, today I will begin to cover:
What does this report mean?
What are the numbers telling us?
What might be the causes for concern based on the findings?
And most importantly, what can we do about it all as parents, educators, & policy makers?
Even though the Youth Risk Behavior Survey findings are focused on high school youth, the information is relevant to a much wider range of kids. High school does not happen in a vacuum--what do kids see & experience before these years that have impacted the findings?
As parents, partners, and professionals, we are already doing the best we can, but it is important to know more so we can do more. This is just the beginning of the conversation, so send your questions to me at podcast@theheartfulparent.com so we can keep digging into how to help *all* our kids!
Resources:
The Youth Behavior Survey can be found here.
Link to the next iteration of the survey being conducted in 2023 here.
