Young People Talk Mental Health
Quick Takeaway
This study gives a brief window into what high school students think about mental health. And wow, they have a lot of wisdom to share! (See “What Researchers Discovered” below to read some of the findings.) For education professionals interested in improving student mental health, this study offers encouragement for drawing on student voices when shaping how schools address the mental well-being of their young people.
Because what works for adults doesn’t always work for kids.
What Researchers Discovered
According to the students…
Understanding Mental Health
- Mental health is a process rather than a static state of mind—it’s how we understand and respond to the world. “The way your mind works.”
- Mental health involves things like optimism, self-awareness, self-worth, and resilience. “Having golden retriever energy.”
- People who are mentally healthy set boundaries, persevere through challenges, experience a range of emotions, and practice self-care. “It’s healthy to feel other emotions besides happy. Like, your day is not always going to go perfect so like being sad and stuff, it’s like healthy to do that.”
- Students are responsible for improving and/or maintaining their own mental health. “Knowing how much you can take…being able to like kind of step back.”
- But it’s also important to ask for help when you need it. “Like even if you have a mental illness, it doesn’t mean you’re not mentally healthy, like if you take medications…You have to get help for it.”
Mental Health Influencers
- Families influence a person’s mental health. “How you’re raised determines or influences how you’re gonna deal with knowing yourself, knowing your emotions, and how to handle situations.”
- Friends are very important to students’ mental health, both in coping with your own and helping them with theirs. “Sometimes I self-motivate myself but then I have friends that have my back. And I have their back to help me motivate myself to be better as a person.”
- Social media is both good and bad for students’ mental health, and students’ use of it needs to be regulated. “They telling you gotta be this type of person, and it just kept messing me up.”
-
Neighborhoods and schools impact students’ mental health, with the lack of resources both hindering and helping mental health.
- “Because if you are not accustomed to the way your neighborhood is, or it is extremely dirty or it is kind of gross… then that is also going to reflect on your emotions in a bad manner.”
- “I think if you have less resources, you are more likely to be persistent.”
How the Study Was Designed
Researchers held four focus groups with a total of 26 9th-12th grade students (44% identifying as Black/African American) from Baltimore City Public Schools. Note: A limitation of the study is the small sample size from a particular geographic area. The findings of the study are meant to inspire school staff to include the voices of their own students when considering how to support their mental health.
Take It Deeper
-
Take a moment to reflect:
- What do you think your students might say about mental health, both what it is and how to foster it? How can you find out? And when you do, what would you do with the information?
- How can you provide students with more opportunities, knowledge, and skills to help them take responsibility for their mental health?
- Read more insights from teens about mental health—and social media—in this article from Greater Good.
- Give your students the tools to cultivate self-compassion with this practice, “A Moment for Me: A Self-Compassion Break for Teens“.
Reference
Rose, T., Leitch, J., Forrester, P., & Hayes-Lawson, A. (2024). “Everybody’s mind is different. Like, it’s not gonna work the same”: An exploratory study of youth perspectives on mental health. Youth & Society, 1-27. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X241296553
Are you ready to build a kinder, happier school where everyone belongs? Join Greater Good Educators! Explore the science of well-being in a supportive community of educators from around the world. Registration is now open for the 2025-2026 school year!