{"id":1016046,"date":"2026-08-22T01:07:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1016046\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T01:07:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:07:01","slug":"vt-teens-report-better-mental-health-less-substance-use-in-new-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1016046\/","title":{"rendered":"Vt. teens report better mental health, less substance use in new survey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">WATERBURY, Vt. (WCAX) &#8211; New data show the well-being of Vermont teens is improving, with fewer students reporting poor mental health and substance use on the decline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/hsi-yrbs-2025-statewide-report.pdf\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/hsi-yrbs-2025-statewide-report.pdf\">The latest survey of high school and middle schoolers<\/a> shows improvements in mental health and declines in vaping, alcohol and marijuana use, according to the Vermont Department of Health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">About one-quarter of kids experience poor mental health, according to the 2025 data just released. That\u2019s down nearly 10% from 2023, when one-third of students reported mental health concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">At the same time, fewer students are reporting experiences with self-harm and suicidal ideation, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">But the data shows nearly 4 in 10 teens said they could easily access a loaded gun without permission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Teen substance use is going down. Now, 18% of students report using marijuana, 22% report drinking alcohol and 14% report vaping, down from a peak of 29% in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see real progress in the health and wellbeing of Vermont\u2019s young people,\u201d Dr. Rick Hildebrant, Vermont health commissioner, said in a release. \u201cThis survey helps us understand where we are making a difference in mental health and substance use, where young people continue to struggle, and where we need to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Also of note, 25% of students report being sexually active. Less than half of them are using condoms, but other birth control methods are on the rise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY DATA HIGHLIGHTS:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list | article-list\">\n<li>53% of high school students feel that they matter to their community.<\/li>\n<li>77% of high school students check social media several times a day.<\/li>\n<li>25% of high school students are sexually active. Of those, less than half report using condoms, but birth control options like the pill and IUD are on the rise.<\/li>\n<li>40% of high school students report trying to lose weight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Health officials say overall, the survey shows promising progress, but there\u2019s still work to be done. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/hsi-yrbs-2025-statewide-report.pdf\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/hsi-yrbs-2025-statewide-report.pdf\">Find the full results of the survey here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">If you\u2019re struggling with mental health, you can text, call or chat with the National 988 Hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WATERBURY, Vt. (WCAX) &#8211; New data show the well-being of Vermont teens is improving, with fewer students reporting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1016047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[36],"tags":[567,2106,7614,210,3344,14012,517,15689,25883,9108,67,132,68,237,2742,47139],"class_list":["post-1016046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-abuse","tag-alcohol","tag-gun","tag-health","tag-marijuana","tag-mental","tag-mental-health","tag-student","tag-substance","tag-survey","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vaping","tag-vermont","tag-wcax"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117136487180959160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1016047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}