The Belmont Wellness Coalition recently presented data from this year’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), highlighting stress, mental health challenges, bullying, and emotional abuse among the top issues.
According to the survey, the student groups who reported the highest rates of mental health challenges and substance use included transgender and gender-diverse students, LGBTQ students, Black students, multiracial students, and students who fall into the category of “another race” (including those who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern/North African, or another race).
“We’d like to see those numbers improve—we’d like to reach those kids,” said Lisa Gibalerio, the director of the Belmont Wellness Coalition, during the presentation at a School Committee meeting on Nov. 4.
The survey is offered to students in Belmont Public Schools’ grades seven through 12, every two years. The most recent survey was taken in April.
The survey received an 89% response rate among the middle school students and a 69% response rate among high school students.
According to Gibalerio, Belmont’s data is comparable to surrounding districts.
“We are on trend with them, and also with the state of Massachusetts,” she said.
Key Findings
While substance use—including alcohol, marijuana, and vaping—has generally remained consistent or decreased slightly since 2019, students reported a higher perception of their peers using substances than was actually reported.
Among students, 16% of middle schoolers and 24% of high schoolers reported experiencing overwhelming stress over the past year; for both groups, the top three stressors identified by the survey were concerns about school, the future, and appearance.
Rates of depression and anxiety have reportedly decreased for middle and high school students since 2023. However, rates of self-harm are consistent with the findings from 2023, with 12% of middle school students (80 respondents) and 11% of high school students (111 respondents) reporting harming themselves in the past year.
For middle school respondents, 67 students (10%) have considered suicide, and 32 students (5%) have made a suicide plan. Both of these rates have decreased since 2021.
For high school respondents, 86 students (9%) have considered suicide, and 40 students (4%) have made a suicide plan, marking a slight decrease in these rates since 2021.
Black students, students “of another race,” trans and gender-diverse students, and LGBTQ+ students reported higher rates of bullying than other student groups.
Of students who date, emotional abuse was reported as the most common form of abuse (experienced by 13% of middle school respondents who reported dating, and 19% of high school respondents who reported dating).
According to the survey, 56% of middle school students and 66% of high school students reported engaging in a healthy activity to help relieve their stress.
“That’s going to be one of our goals in the aftermath of this survey—maybe getting close to all of our students having a coping strategy,” said Gibalerio.
Next Steps
Gibalerio said possible next steps for the Belmont Wellness Coalition include sharing the data with local stakeholders (including the Fire, Police, and Recreation departments, and the teen librarian), providing support to the district in reviewing its health and wellness curriculum, and supporting programming for vulnerable student groups.
Belmont’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Well-being, Darnell Thigpen Williams, is also leading efforts to develop a similar, schoolwide survey for families, students, and staff to measure school climate and key issues impacting students.
“I think these two types of surveys will be very complementary to each other, to give a really full picture of how kids are experiencing school,” said Superintendent Jill Geiser.
Williams said he plans for the survey to be designed by spring and piloted in select schools and grade levels in April.
He also hopes to collaborate with the Belmont Wellness Coalition to design the survey, he said.
Another key element of addressing these issues is providing professional development for staff, and identifying which services and resources have been effective for supporting students in other districts in the past, he said.
According to Williams, the district’s collaboration with local groups to address issues in the wider community is also critical.
“I think we all do wonderful work, but I think it’s really about being strategic and coming together [with] a shared vision so that we’re doing the same work and maximizing the benefits,” he said.
For more information on the survey, please visit https://belmontwellness.org.
Editor’s Note: Lisa Gibalerio writes the “Ask Lisa” column for The Belmont Voice.
