For the adults in K-12 schools, the biggest source of students鈥� mental angst is clear: bullying online through social media and via text.
But high school students have a very different opinion on what鈥檚 dragging down their mental health. Among teens, the most cited factor is stress related to finishing schoolwork and homework, followed by grades.
Those results come from a pair of new surveys from the EdWeek Research Center, which polled high school-age kids in September and educators鈥攖eachers, principals, and district leaders鈥攊n October. The detailed results of the surveys are listed in the charts below, but first some analysis.
What鈥檚 going on here? How can educator and student perspectives on these issues be so different? Part of the discrepancy might be due to the fact that the educator poll included teachers and principals from elementary and middle schools as well as high schools, whereas the student survey was of only high school students.
But another reason is that students and educators simply have different perceptions of what the root causes are of students鈥� mental health problems.
Combined, both sets of responses offer a fuller picture of what is corroding students鈥� mental wellbeing, said Sharon Hoover, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The survey results also serve as a warning to adults not to become too fixated on one cause of students鈥� mental health problems, she said.
Hoover, who is also a co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health, said it鈥檚 not surprising that adults would be quick to point to issues related to social media use as students鈥� primary stressor.
鈥淪ome of the adults might be more keen to identify something that they didn鈥檛 experience as a stressor when they were growing up,鈥� said Hoover. 鈥淚 think there is a quick assumption that the increase in mental health concerns must be related to something new to this generation. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 completely unfounded. The data does suggest that, yes, there are harms that come with exposure to social media, especially certain uses of social media like passive utilization where you鈥檙e just scrolling and looking at photos and doing a comparison analysis of your life to others.鈥�
Educators might also be more likely to minimize鈥攐r fail to recognize altogether鈥攈ow the schoolwork and homework they assign might be hurting students鈥� mental health.
鈥淭here has been the status quo to assign homework, so adults aren鈥檛 thinking about this,鈥� even as pressure to catch students up academically after the pandemic may have pushed the amount of schoolwork and homework teachers are assigning beyond a healthy threshold, Hoover said.
For their part, teens might be deemphasizing the negative impact social media use is having on their mental health. It is designed to be addictive, said Hoover, and teens might be incentivized to downplay how anything related to social media, like online bullying, is hurting their moods for fear that it might be taken away from them. Teens may also not be aware of how social media might be making them feel bad, she said.
Ultimately, Hoover said it鈥檚 important for educators to understand that it鈥檚 a complex mix of factors鈥攔anging from students鈥� physical health to the socioeconomic status of their families to the political environment around them鈥攖hat are contributing to their mental health challenges. Not recognizing that can have consequences, she said, especially if all the solutions are focused on only one potential factor, like online bullying or social media use.
鈥淭his is why we ask multiple people about this because everyone has a unique and valuable perspective, and when you have grown up with social media you may not be able to recognize some of the harms,鈥� said Hoover. 鈥淏ut also the youth are presenting this perspective that is important: we know that the academic context right now is burdensome on their mental health.鈥�
The EdWeek Research Center surveys also asked students and educators if students had an adult they felt safe speaking with at school. Again, there are noteworthy differences between educator and student answers鈥攁nd even the responses among students based on race鈥攚hich are detailed in the charts below.
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
