New Data on Teen and Young Adult Mental Health: What’s Improving, and What Still Needs Attention

New national survey data from SAMHSA shows recent trends in youth mental health and suicide worth paying attention to. The 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) offers one of the clearest national snapshots available.

While data show improvement in youth suicidal thoughts and behaviors from 2021 to 2025, concerning trends remain.

The recently released NSDUH data showed that overall, suicidal thoughts and behaviors  among youth are trending down. In 2025, fewer young people ages 12-25 were having suicidal thoughts, making a suicide plan, or attempting suicide than in 2021. That said, there was a slight uptick in rates of thoughts, plans, and attempts from 2024 to 2025 among teens (12-17). This is similar to trends observed in suspected suicide attempts among young people ages 12-17 that were seen in emergency departments, per a study co-authored by JED’s Vice President of Research and Evaluation, Dr. Kayla Anderson, in which rates declined from 2021-2025 but increased between 2024 and 2025. So while the data shows overall improvement in the past several years, we need to keep paying attention to how things shift in the future.

Data from the 2025 NSDUH also indicate that suicide rates are still too high:

• Among 12-17 year olds, about 10% had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, 5% made a plan, and 3% made an attempt. 
• Among 18-25 year olds, about 11% had serious thoughts of suicide, 4% made a plan, and 2% made an attempt.

Despite overall decreases in suicidal thoughts and behaviors from 2021 to 2025, young people still struggle with their mental health.

Anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions are too high among young people: 

• Among adolescents aged 12-17, 
  • 18% had moderate or severe anxiety symptoms in the past 2 weeks (down from 19% in 2024, the first year asking these questions) 
  • 15% had a past-year major depressive episode (down from 21% in 2021). 
• Young adults show the highest rates of mental health conditions of any adult age group. In 2025, about 29% of 18-to-25-year-olds were categorized as having had “any mental illness” in the past year (down from 33% in 2021), and about 12% as having had a “serious mental illness” (down from 17% in 2021).

Non-suicidal self-injury is prevalent among teens: 

• This year was the first time data was collected on non-suicidal self injury in adolescents, and showed that 11% of young people aged 12-17 engaged in non-suicidal self-injury in the past year.

There are some key barriers to mental health treatment.

More than 42% of adolescents 12-17 with a major depressive episode over the past year did not receive mental health treatment. Many had a perceived unmet need, meaning they wanted treatment but didn’t get it. The top four reasons they listed for not getting treatment were:

• Thought they should be able to handle mental health, emotions, or behavior on their own (87%)
• Worried about what people would think or say if they got treatment (63%)
• Worried that information would not be kept private (57%)
• Did not think treatment would help them (54%)

This makes clear that we have work to do to address systemic issues that create barriers to care for young people. Things like stigma, privacy concerns, and distrust of treatment efficacy are getting in the way, and it’s our job to break down these barriers and help young people better access the care they need and deserve. 

What we can do:

There are several actions we can collectively take to better support young people, including:

• Work towards normalizing mental health issues and viewing help-seeking, including treatment, as a strength.
• Train adults to identify young people at risk and respond effectively. 
• Encourage connectedness with helpful peers and trusted adults.
• Reassure young people about systems and policies in place to protect their privacy.
• Show young people how mental health treatment can help, through storytelling from patients, families, and providers.
• Work toward making mental health treatment easily accessible to young people, and more attuned to their needs.

All young people deserve access to evidence-based mental health treatment, as well as supportive environments that help them to not just avoid crises but to live purpose-driven and connected lives. JED is committed to continuing to build that world with youth in schools and communities every day.