The survey, conducted using anonymous student responses, was conducted among 1,418 students at 29 BPS high schools.
Some activities that require in-person interaction, such as sexual activity, have rebounded from the 2021 survey, which was conducted at the peak of the pandemic, but the long-term trend remains in decline. Two-thirds of survey respondents 19 percent had engaged in sexual intercourse compared with 39.4 percent in 1993, 19 percent had been in a physical fight in the past year compared with 43 percent in 1993, and 16.4 percent had consumed alcohol compared with 40.1 percent in 1993. Marijuana use remained about the same as in 1993, at about 17 percent, although the popularity of harder drugs has declined.
According to school district data, 38.7% of Boston School of Science students surveyed said they had felt persistently sad or hopeless, the second-highest figure since 1999, when the question was first asked, when 32.2% said so. Statewide and nationally, the figure has been on the rise for a decade. More than a quarter of Boston students said their mental health is poor most of the time.
However, the rise in mental health problems has not been reflected in rising suicide attempt rates, with 6.7% of people saying they had attempted suicide, down from 13.5% in 1993.
School officials said health education and policies that promote healthy behaviors could be factors in long-term progress. Jill Carter, the school district’s director of health and wellness, cited smoking as a particularly glaring example: More than 20% of Boston teenagers said they smoked 30 years ago, compared with less than 3% in a survey last year.
“Focus on tobacco policies that have made it harder for children to access tobacco [and] “Significant funding for tobacco education across the state” has contributed to the decline, Carter said.
But Robert Birdwell, president of the Massachusetts School Counselor Association, said both positive and negative trends may have the same root: technology.
“Cell phones have forever changed our society, and not necessarily for the better,” Birdwell said. “Why go out and party with people when you can do almost any social activity on your own?”
Birdwell said the trend towards socialising away from home could be causing an increase in mental health problems among young people, as well as a decrease in risky behaviour that is often driven by peer pressure and socialising.
“There are lots of reasons why mental health issues are on the rise, but this is definitely one of them,” he said. “Part of the problem is that people are not going out as much.”
Birdwell said the pandemic has been one of the causes of an increase in mental health issues and has also been traumatic for many students.
A few questions bucked the trend. While most drug use is on the decline (heroin and cocaine use are at all-time lows), marijuana use remained roughly the same as in the first survey. In 2023, 17.4% of respondents said they had ever used marijuana. That’s up from 17.8% in 1993, but down significantly from a peak of 27% in 2011. Nicotine e-cigarettes are also significantly more common than smoking, with one in 10 students saying they use e-cigarettes.
The survey found that if students are sexually active, Of the women who practiced safe sex, 54.8 percent said they used a condom the last time they had sex, 15 percent said they used oral contraceptives, and just 8.2 percent said they had ever been tested for HIV. But pregnancy rates are still dropping significantly, with 1.6 percent saying they have been pregnant or made someone pregnant, down from 11.1 percent in 1993. Last fall, the state approved new health and sex education guidelines for the first time in more than 20 years, Carter noted.
The survey also found only slight progress in reducing rates of sexual assault and physical abuse: Just over 7% of students reported experiencing sexual violence, and while reported rates of fighting, violence and weapon possession were down, the proportion of students who said they had missed school for safety reasons remained near a record high of 12.2%.
Differences were found by race, gender, and sexual orientation in many of the areas surveyed. Female and LGBTQ+ students were much more likely to report mental health issues. Black and Latino students were more likely than white students to report having been in a fight or feeling anxious about going to school. White students were most likely to drink alcohol, and Latino students were most likely to use marijuana.
Contact Christopher Huffaker at christopher.huffaker@globe.com. Follow him: It makes me laugh.