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‘Boston, we have a problem’: More high schoolers are feeling hopeless, new report says
“The kids are not OK. We are in the middle of an epidemic, and we risk losing a generation of kids.”
Bostonians young and old have felt sadder and more anxious in recent years, with mental health disparities evident among people of color, homeless individuals, and LGBTQ+ residents, according to a new report from the Boston Public Health Commission.
Released Wednesday, the report focuses on mental health trends between 2015 and 2021, pulling information from surveys, census and death records, and hospital data. Among the more alarming findings: About 44% of Boston’s public high school students said they felt sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in 2021, compared to nearly 27% in 2015.
Likewise, the percentage of adults in Boston who felt persistent sadness increased from about 12% in 2015 to more than 17% in 2021. Persistent anxiety among Boston’s adults also spiked from about 22% to 27% in the same timeframe.
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“The rates of these feelings surged particularly during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought challenges such as job and income loss, social isolation, and grief due to the death of loved ones,” according to the report.
The findings coincide with the launch of a $21 million city initiative to bolster behavioral health services for children and families in Boston. To fund those services, city officials earmarked money from federal funding and grants, including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
“I think we’re all aware that our youth are in crisis,” Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Boston’s commissioner of public health, said during a press conference announcing the initiative. “They need our help more than ever before.”
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For example, Ojikutu said less than half of Boston high school students reported that they received the help they needed when facing mental health struggles.
According to Dr. Joseph Mitchell, president of Franciscan Children’s hospital, the pediatric behavioral health crisis has been compounded by funding gaps and workforce shortages. The need for creative solutions and public-private partnerships, he said, has never been greater.
“Boston, we have a problem,” Mitchell said during the press conference. “The kids are not OK. We are in the middle of an epidemic, and we risk losing a generation of kids.”
Often, the need is even greater for people of color: According to the BPHC report, Latinx high schoolers reported feelings of persistent sadness at a higher rate than their white peers between 2017 and 2021. Black and Latinx youth in Boston also saw higher rates of attempted suicides.
Similar trends persisted among Boston’s older residents; for example, Asian, Black, and Latinx adults were more likely than white adults to report that they didn’t have someone to rely on for emotional support.
Homeless adults also showed “alarming” mental health disparities and were almost twice as likely to feel persistent anxiety and three times as likely to feel persistent sadness compared to their housed counterparts, according to the report.
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Children and adults who are part of the LGBTQ+ community experienced noticeably higher rates of poor mental health than their heterosexual and non-LGBTQ+ peers, the researchers found.
“The data from 2021 is particularly telling for LGBQ+ youth, who experienced higher rates across a range of distressing experiences, including self-harm, … suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts,” according to the report.
City leaders and public health officials who spoke at Wednesday’s press conference said they are hopeful the $21 million in new funding will help turn those tides.
“The past several years have been difficult for all of us, and that’s especially true for our young people,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “That’s why it is so important for us to make life saving investments now, to support Boston families and make sure our youth get the high-quality care they need.”
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