Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS),<\/a> 267,000 Pennsylvania students were surveyed and administrators of the survey say it showed mental health concerns, depression, and suicide\u2011risk indicators are all declining among the Commonwealth\u2019s youth<\/p>\n\u201cThe Pennsylvania Youth Survey continues to be one of our most valuable tools for understanding what students are dealing with in their daily lives, said Kirsten Kenyon, Executive Director of PCCD. \u201cThe 2025 results show positive trends in mental health and safety, a sign that our continued investments in school-based mental health and safety initiatives at the state level are paying off.\u201d<\/p>\n
PAYS is a biannual, anonymous, and voluntary survey of Pennsylvania students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 that gathers insights on youth behavior, attitudes, and knowledge related to substance use and violence. Conducted through a partnership with PCCD and the Pennsylvania Department of Education\u00a0and Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, survey results help school districts implement effective youth development and prevention programs, strengthen strategies to keep students safe, and ensure students have a voice in what\u2019s happening in their schools and communities.<\/p>\n
2025 PAYS results show that 76% of participating students reported their overall mental health is good, an increase from 71% in 2023; and suicide-risk indicators \u2014 including seriously considering suicide, making a plan, and attempts \u2014 have fallen steadily since 2021. Additionally, 83% of students report feeling safe at school, an increase from 78% in 2023.<\/p>\n
Other key positive findings from the 2025 PAYS:<\/p>\n
Persistent sadness and feelings of worthlessness have all declined.
\nStudents increasingly believe substances are harmful.
\nStudents report greater trust that adults will intervene when bullying occurs.
\nReports of being threatened, attacked, or encountering weapons at school have also declined.
\nYouth access to alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, prescription and illicit drugs is more difficult.<\/p>\n
While important progress has been made, the 2025 PAYS show areas in need of continued focus:<\/p>\n
Although mental health concerns have improved, nearly one in seven students have seriously considered suicide in the past year.
\nWhile some bullying indicators have improved, frequent bullying and school avoidance due to bullying have not returned to pre\u20112021 levels.
\nMeasures of school connectedness, such as opportunities for one-on-one teacher support and student voice in the classroom, have remained largely stagnant.
\nSenior participation remains the lowest of all grade levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG- The COVID-19 pandemic, no matter where you were, was hard on people\u2019s mental health. We\u2019ve seen a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1057,122673,91041,59482,50254,28,30,29,7363,21152,6732],"class_list":["post-298438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-health","tag-improving","tag-lows","tag-mental","tag-pandemic","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-safety","tag-sense","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}