CDC Survey: 44 Percent of US High School Students Felt Persistently ‘Sad or Hopeless’ in 2021

Students leave Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington County, Va., in a file image. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

More than four in ten U.S. high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, according to a CDC field survey released late last week.

The number of high school students with persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness has grown steadily from 26.1 percent in 2009, to 36.7 percent in 2019, according to CDC data.