CDC’s teen behavior report focuses on nutrition, downplays sex and substance use
Add to GoogleCoaches can be the first line of defense for teen boys when it comes to their mental health04:29Get more newsonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleSept. 21, 2026, 3:41 PM EDTBy Aria BendixA biennial report on teen health from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused this year on high schoolers playing sports and making healthier food choices — priority areas for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The CDC on Monday published the results of its latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which queried high school students nationwide in 2025. The survey offers the most robust snapshot of teen health in the U.S., including their mental health, social media and substance use, physical activity, sleep behaviors and dietary habits.
Past reports noted a rise in sexual violence against teen girls and a high share of opioid use among high schoolers. Under Kennedy’s leadership, the new report emphasized that more high schoolers in 2025 ate fruits and vegetables daily and drank water at least three times per day compared with 2023.
Fifty-eight percent of students also played on a sports team in 2025, up from 52% two years prior.
Dr. Jennifer Shuford, CDC’s chief medical officer, said the findings “align with the Make America Healthy Again initiative led by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy,” which has emphasized the link between chronic disease in children and poor diet and sedentary lifestyles. Kennedy this year restored the presidential fitness test in public schools and released new dietary guidelines that limit ultraprocessed food consumption.
During the Biden administration, the same report underscored a worrisome trend of persistent sadness or hopelessness among high school girls. The share peaked at 57% in 2021, during the Covid pandemic, then fell to 53% in 2023. The 2025 report shows a steeper decline, down to 43%.
In the new report, the CDC highlighted overall improvements in mental health among high schoolers rather than sex-specific trends.
Compared with 2023, fewer students in 2025 reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, poor mental health or suicidal thoughts, the report found.
The report did not mention LGBTQ youth, who are more likely to experience poor mental health and suicidal thoughts than their peers, and were among the surveyed populations.
“The intent of this report was to provide a high-level snapshot of youth health behaviors for all youth and be applicable to communities and schools across the country,” Mike Underwood, acting director for the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, said on a press call.
Ariel Beccia, a research scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital, said mental health trends aren’t the same for every demographic group, and one of the strengths of the CDC survey is that it includes data for different races, ethnicities and sexual orientations.
“Overall, we see things are getting better, but for who? Oftentimes, it’s the more advantaged groups,” Beccia said.
In 2023, the survey asked students for the first time if they identified as transgender. According to a guide to the data published Monday, the 2025 survey also included a question about transgender identity. The Trump administration last year scrubbed references to that portion of the survey from a CDC webpage, after Trump instructed federal agencies to remove language that promoted “gender ideology.” A federal judge quickly ordered the administration to restore the webpage, along with others that had been similarly altered.
Beccia said several other items seemed missing from the new report. For instance, she expected it to mention social and economic factors that dictate whether teens can eat healthy foods, such as proximity to grocery stores.
But Dr. Aaron Reliford, clinical director of the Child Study Center at NYU Langone, said he appreciated the focus on physical health and nutrition. The report also highlighted that social media use among teens has stayed consistent in the last few years: around 1 in 3 students say they use social media at least every hour.
“The more that we can get kids off of their phones, the more that we can get them out and more active,” Reliford said. “And that, combined with ongoing nutrition, certainly can benefit mental health overall.”
Aria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.
