Survey: Most Wisconsin teens knew someone COVID killed or hospitalized, felt high anxiety
Wisconsin students reported alarming levels of anxiety and depression last year, while reckoning with over a year of COVID’s impact on their families’ livelihoods, the health of their 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 significant problems with feeling very anxious, nervous, tense, scared or like something bad was going to happen, according to the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Rising numbers of students also reported symptoms of depression, self-harm and thoughts of suicide. At the same time, students were also less likely to say they were able to get the emotional support they needed — especially students of color and LGBT students.
The results, the first picture of Wisconsin students’ mental health since the onset of the pandemic, were publicized by the Department of Public Instruction Tuesday with a call for “drastic action.”
"I implore you to picture a child in your life and consider that this is them, and if not, it very well could be their friend, or your neighbor’s child experiencing this hurt and isolation," Jill Underly, state superintendent of schools, said in a statement. "We must do better."
A Stanford University study recently found that youth assessed in the two years after the onset of the pandemic showed more severe mental health problems and advanced brain aging, as compared to youth assessed before the pandemic.
DPI leaders also called attention to disparities for LGBTQ+ students and students of color, noting in particular the recent tide 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, DPI communications director. "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 goes out every two years to a sample of schools across the country selected to inform county, state and national reports, including 43 Wisconsin high schools. The national results have not yet been shared for 2021.
Any school or district can also opt to use the YRBS in any year and choose whether to make their individual results public.
MPS made its results public through 2018, but has not shared results since then. District spokesperson Nicole Armendariz said MPS has not compiled formal reports for more recent years “due to being short-staffed in that department,” though she said staff have used the results to inform their work.
Two questions about COVID were added to the 2021 survey, asking students about people they knew who got sick or lost jobs during the pandemic.
Most students knew people COVID hospitalized or killed
As of fall 2021, about 54% of Wisconsin high school students said they knew 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
The numbers for Milwaukee County, where 39 public high schools were surveyed, were slightly lower overall, for a total of 53%, and were especially lower for students of color as compared to the state figures:
53% of white students
47% of Black students
59% of Hispanic and Latino students
52% of Asian students
57% of American Indian students
However, students of color in Milwaukee County were more likely to say they knew more than four people who were hospitalized or killed by COVID: about 7% of white students, and more than 9% of every other group.
Nearly a quarter of students saw adults in their homes lose jobs, half had their own jobs
About 25% of Wisconsin high school students said their parent or another adult in their home lost their job during the pandemic, out of 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
Numbers were slightly lower for Milwaukee County, totaling about 22% of all students:
18% of white students
18% of American Indian students
20% of 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 worked jobs during the pandemic. The state results didn't break down the number of hours students worked at these jobs, though the Milwaukee County results did.
About 37% of Milwaukee County high schools students said they worked at least one hour per week, including 10% who worked 10-19 hours per week, and 7% over 20 hours per week.
Rising mental health challenges
A new question about anxiety, added in 2017, found then that about 40% of Wisconsin high school students said in the past 12 months they had significant problems feeling anxious, nervous, tense, scared or like something bad was going to happen. That figure rose to 49% in 2019 and 52% in 2021.
Another area of concern: About 34% of state high schoolers said in the last 12 months they'd felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities — considered symptoms of depression. That's up from 29% in 2019.
Rates of self-harm also rose, with about 22% of Wisconsin high schoolers saying they had done something to purposely hurt themselves in the past 12 months, without wanting 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 attempted — the highest numbers in at least a decade.
Bullying down — except for LGB students
In a more hopeful trend, the YRBS showed a continuing decline in bullying on school property, with about 18% of Wisconsin high school students saying they were bullied at school in the past 12 months, down from about 22% in 2019.
That could be in part because of virtual learning in the 2020-21 school year, DPI staff said, noting that bullying commonly occurs in spaces without as much structured supervision, like hallways, playgrounds and bus rides.
Electronic bullying also declined to about 16% of students, down from about 17% in 2019.
But rates of bullying were significantly higher for students who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual. About a third of those students said they were bullied at school and about 27% bullied electronically. About 16% said they had missed school at least once in the last month because they felt unsafe at school or on their commute.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual students also reported much higher rates of anxiety (81%), depression symptoms (66%) and thoughts of suicide (48%).
For some educators, it confirms their worries from when the pandemic began, when students may have lost connections with the most supportive people in their lives.
"One of my first thoughts was, uh oh, those 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, gosh, I hope some of them are in a home that's supportive, knowing full well that many of them are not."
The state results did not include numbers specifically for transgender students. Milwaukee County results did include transgender students in a LGBT category and found similar trends: about 30% of LGBT students said they'd been bullied at school or electronically, compared with 13% of straight, cisgender students.
LGB students, students of color still less likely to get help they need, feel they belong at school
While all students in 2021 expressed less sense of belonging at school and less ability to get emotional support than previous years, it was worse for LGB students and students of color.
About 61% of Wisconsin high schoolers said they felt like they belonged at their school, down 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 the least likely to say they felt they belonged at school: about 51%.
Also down in 2021: Only about 22% of state high schoolers said they could usually get the kind of help they needed, among those who reported feeling sad, empty, hopeless, angry or anxious. Just 18% of LGB students said the same.
Among students of color, fewer than 21% said they could get the help they needed, including just 14% of Hispanic and Latino students.
State education officials say more help is needed
DPI officials said the numbers point to a mental health crisis and called for support of the department's budget request for more support, including about $236 million for mental health services in schools.
"There is work that needs 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's guidance for fostering safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students.
“Learning environments that foster a sense of belonging take on a different significance for LGBTQ+ kidsand students of color because the world at large is not always safe for them," Underly said in a statement. "The reality is that hateful rhetoric and misguided policies are only exacerbating the stress this vulnerable population of students already feel."
Swetz also called on all adults to consider how they support young people in their communities, and consider the weight of their words, especially for marginalized students.
"When there is rhetoric that is so divisive and so hateful, everyone's listening to that, and that includes kids," Swetz said.
Contact Rory Linnane at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: COVID has contributed to rising mental health challenges for students
