GUEST COLUMN: Disturbing CDC data on Utah’s youth: A start to more conversations

Susan R. Madsen 

I am always analyzing data on women and girls in Utah and comparing it to national numbers. It’s my job. Recently I reviewed information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that explored issues that impact American youth. If, like me, you tend to worry about “kids today,” you have good reason.

The set of surveys I examined explored behaviors that can lead to poor health in students grades nine through 12. Even though the datasets are always a few years behind (2021 is the most recent), considering these results in our roles and interactions with youth may be helpful.

Below I present 10 areas of concern in alphabetical order, not necessarily by level of concern. My hope is that readers will use this information to have discussions with the youth around them.

1. Concussions: It seems if you are a Utah youth, you are more likely to have “had a concussion from playing a sport or being physically active (one or more times during the 12 months before the survey).” This is the case whether you are a young woman (14.4 percent Utah vs. 10.4 percent U.S.) or a young man (19.4 percent Utah vs. 13.1 percent U.S.).

2. Feeling Sad or Hopeless: When asked if a high school student “felt sad or hopeless (almost every day for two or more weeks in a row so that they stopped doing some usual activities, during the 12 months before the survey),” 52.7 percent of Utah girls (56.6 percent U.S.) and 30.6 percent of Utah boys (12.8 percent U.S.) agreed.

3. Illegal Drugs: 20.8 percent of the Utah youth in the representative CDC sample said that they “were offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property (during the 12 months before the survey),” compared to 13.9 percent nationally. Utah girls and boys answered similarly.

4. Mental Health: 41.1 percent of Utah girls (40.8 percent U.S.) and 16.1 percent of Utah boys (18.1 percent U.S.), “reported that their mental health was most of the time or always not good (poor mental health includes stress, anxiety and depression, during the 30 days before the survey).”

5. PE Classes: Utah girls were significantly different than U.S. girls on this item: “Did not attend physical education (PE) classes on all five days (in an average week when they were in school).” In fact, 89.5 percent of Utah girls in the sample said they did not, while 83.3 percent girls nationally did not. Utah boys were also high at 84.9 percent of boys (compared to 78.9 percent of U.S. boys).

6. Sexual Violence: This survey item was as follows: “Experienced sexual violence by anyone (counting such things as kissing, touching or being forced to have sexual intercourse that they did not want to do, one or more times during the 12 months before the survey).” 21.4 percent of Utah girls — one in five — (compared to 17.9 percent U.S.) and 8.2 percent of boys (compared to 4.6 percent U.S.) said they had experienced this.

7. Suicide Attempts: For Utah boys, 15.3 percent agreed that they “made a plan about how they would attempt suicide (during the 12 months before the survey),” while in the U.S. it was significantly lower at 11.6 percent. For Utah high school girls, 20.6 percent agreed, compared to 23.6 percent of U.S. girls.

8. Texting: In the CDC’s representative sample, 47 percent of Utah’s youth said that they “texted or e-mailed while driving a car or other vehicle (on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey, among students who had driven a car or other vehicle during the 30 days before the survey).” Nationally it was 36.1 percent, so Utah was significantly higher for both girls and boys.

9. Vaping: Although significantly lower than the nation, 27.8 percent of Utah girls and 25.1 percent of boys said they “ever used electronic vapor products (including e-cigarettes, vapes, vape pens, e-cigars, e-hookahs, hookah pens and mods, such as JUUL, SMOK, Suorin, Vuse and blu).”

10. Weapons: 8 percent of Utah’s youth said that they “carried a weapon on school property (such as a gun, knife or club, on at least one day during the 30 days before the survey),” compared to only 3.1 percent nationally. Both girls and boys scores were significantly higher than the nation, with girls coming it at 4.4 percent (2.1 percent nationally) and boys at 11.1 percent (3.9 percent nationally).

Like me you probably have many unanswered questions about each of these findings, such as why is Utah better/worse in some areas, how can we make improvements and where do we start?

The question I would urge you to take action on immediately is this: How do I bring up these topics with the youth in my life that I influence? Be bold. Embrace discomfort. Avoid judgment. Ultimately, I hope we as a state can address these issues, but until then, remember that one caring adult can make all a difference.

Professor Susan R. Madsen is the Karen Haight Huntsman endowed professor of leadership and the director of the Utah Women and Leadership Project at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University in Logan.