By Ashtyn Praeter

Each year the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes a mental health report for young adults and students, covering issues such as bullying, violence, social media, suicide, depression, and more. 

This year’s report found mental health issues like depression and suicide attempts  have decreased from 2023 to 2024 while safety threats and violence threats increased.

There was a slight decrease in the percentage of students overall who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (from 42% to 40%). There were also small decreases in the percentage of female students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (from 57% to 53%) and who seriously considered attempting suicide (30% to 27%). This was a decrease from the 2023 report, which stood at 60%.

The CDC report found an increase of students who were or felt threatened due to school violence or bullying. In 2023, EagleView News published its own responses to the CDC report, so we wanted to hear current student perspectives on the increases.

The CDC publishes this report based on student surveys and they found a 2% increase on students who felt threatened or injured by weapons at school. Why do you think more kids started bringing weapons to school?

Senior Lily Westwood: “I think that there are cases where they bring weapons to school to defend themselves or they just do not feel safe. Sometimes there is also something wrong with the way they grew up and their family surroundings. Other times it may be a scare tactic on other students or to be protected at all times.”

Junior Logan Lucas: “I think because of bullying, and their own protection.”

Sophomore Cura Yeagley: “The world has gotten more threatening.”

Sophomore Max Brueggeman : “Maybe because they were scared of other students and I say it probably has to do with social media because that is how certain ideas can travel to different people in a short time.”

 Have you felt threatened at school or felt unsafe?

Lily: “I have not felt unsafe.”

Logan: “I have never felt threatened at school or unsafe.”

Cura: “Yea but about things that involve the media and school shootings.”

Max: “Me personally, no. I can understand why other students could though.”

Have you ever been bullied at school?

Lily: “I don’t think so, or at least not that I can remember.”

Logan: “No, but I have witnessed it.”

Cura: “Yes I have.”

Max: “I cannot remember if I have ever been bullied.” 

The report also shows a 4% increase from 15% to 19% in bullying at school. Why do you think more kids are being bullied at school? How do you think these bullying acts are being preformed?

Lily: “I think people are being bullied because they are showing themselves more and what they really care about. They are trying to be who they are and people do not like that so they bully them. These acts are probably most being preformed through social media because more people are getting active on it, so it is more cyberbullying.” 

Logan: “I think more kids are being bullied because they are expressing themselves more in person and social media. People find out more about others and use it against them. The bullying is mostly performed on social media when they show themselves.”

Cura: “More acts of bullying are on social media now and I feel like the rates have gone up because the world is more messed up and they learn to judge from parents and the way the kids are raised. They believe things but they do not know why they believe it.” 

Max: “One problem I could see is the bullies are insecure and they think bullying others will make them happy. I have seen a lot of my classmates using their phone so I think it is usually more social media than in person. I do not have social media so it could be a good reason why I have not witnessed any bullying. I have not seen much face to face bullying, so I assume most is behind a screen, but I bet it is still a thing.”

There was also an increase in the percentages of students who missed school due to safety concerns at school or on the way rising from 9% to 15%. What do you think made kids feel threatened? What rules do you think could be implemented to make sure students feel safe at all times? 

Lily: “Shootings around the world and US, and people hearing about it scares people because they are scared it is going to happen to their school. If there is bullying or a motive to, within students they also may feel threatened. If they are getting bullied, they could do something to stop them. The rules that could be implemented to make students feel safe are security monitors and detectors, honesty, and no contact contracts to ensure safety against students who pose a threat to each other.”

Logan: “Kids feel threatened because of the news and media making issues public and people get scared by it. I also think it is because of bullying, social media again, and more. Metal detectors maybe in high crime rate areas, and making sure students that are not getting along stay away from each other.” 

Cura: “Students are threatened mostly by the media and what they hear, sometimes with how other kids act. I also think that monitors, bag searches, and more could be beneficial. I get how sometimes it is an invasion of privacy but I do get it sometimes.” 

Max: “I would say kids are threatened by the ones who are bullying them and who they are scared of. I would also say social media scares kids because all of the ideas of unsafe things at school. It could potentially travel faster than other news. I think some rules to make sure safety is implied I would say bag checks would be a good idea. Locking the doors seems like a good idea, and keeping students from wandering the hall with no reasons.”

EagleView News kindly thanks all students who were open and honest in their responses. These responses helped put issues into real life perspective from current students who may witness or experience bullying or violence in school settings.