The Communities That Care Coalition’s 2026 Student Health Survey data highlights improvements in youth mental health, lower substance use numbers and the need for less screen time in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
This year’s data collection centered on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The surveys are run in three-year cycles to identify topics to be addressed in the school and community setting, and track trends in youth health and social needs to assist in developing action plans. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was previously conducted in 2019 and 2023.
This type of survey allows the Communities That Care Coalition to “collect an incredible wealth of very high-quality data,” Kat Allen, coalition coordinator with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, explained during a Oct. 16 presentation. Allen added, “This helps our schools and communities plan the most effective interventions to improve youth health and well-being.”
The surveys were provided to nine school districts: Athol-Royalston Regional School District, Four Rivers Charter Public School, Franklin County Technical School, Frontier Regional School District, Gill-Montague Regional School District, the Greenfield School Department, Mohawk Trail Regional School District, Pioneer Valley Regional School District and Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District.
Students were asked to anonymously participate in the survey, but it was not required, and 1,400 students from the eighth, 10th and 12th grades ultimately participated. The coalition has surveyed more than 40,000 students since 2003.
There were four categories in the 2026 survey: “Trends in Youth Mental Health,” “Screens, Phones and Social Media,” “Attitudes About Girls, Women and Feminism” and “Trends in Youth Substance Use.”
For the “Trends in Youth Mental Health” category, questions related to whether the students felt included or safe, and if they had anyone to turn to in the community and the classroom. While most students reported a strong sense of belonging, there were considerable disparities across gender, race and sexual identity groups.
Other topics included whether students committed self-harm, if they had thoughts of suicide, or if they had planned or attempted suicide. These numbers all have slowly lowered from peaks that occurred following the pandemic.
Overall, a majority of students reported experiencing frequent joy and feeling optimistic, an increase from 2023’s survey on the same topics. However, nearly two out of 10 students said they had performed self-harm in the past year, while 12% of students said they have plans of suicide and 15% report experiencing suicidal ideation.
“As a community, the next steps are to come together and develop a plan based on the data,” explained FRCOG Evaluation Coordinator Nick Hathaway, adding that the survey data offers “clues but not proof” for why these social issues are occurring and that there are potentially multiple factors affecting each data point.
In the category “Screens, Phones and Social Media,” questions covered how old students were when they first started using social media, and faced the correlation between signs of depression and anxiety and the effects of early use of social media and smartphones.
Though the Office of the Surgeon General, in a 2023 report, notes that age 13 is commonly the required minimum age used by social media platforms in the U.S., nearly 40% of children ages 8 to 12 are on social media. Students using social media between the ages of 8 and 12 showed a higher percentage of anxiety and depression than students who began using social media at age 15 or older.
Teens taking the Communities That Care Coalition’s survey were asked to reflect on how cellphone use by parents and teachers while engaging with them negatively affected their sense of feeling heard and of belonging. When students feel that their parent is distracted by a cellphone at a level deemed “constant” by the teen, there is a correlation that the teen may be more likely to be bullied at school as well, the survey found. The study suggests that refraining from cellphone and social media use while engaging with others may lead to better mental health and social outcomes.
“The modeling of good behavior is essential,” Hathaway pointed out.
The survey also found that schools that have implemented cellphone bans are already showing higher student engagement and commitment to learning over the past three years compared with schools that are not restricting cellphone use.
The third topic of the survey, “Negative Attitudes About Girls, Women and Feminism,” showed a rising trend since the last survey in 2023. Statements such as “Many women exaggerate problems like discrimination” and “Feminism unfairly disadvantages men” were written out and survey-takers were given the option to agree or disagree.
The data showed higher positive agreement with the statements by cisgender males than in cisgender females or gender-diverse students. In terms of the social implications for these findings, cisgender males also have the highest reported levels of feeling left out, having no one to talk to and a general sense of loneliness.
Of those that responded, approximately one in every 10 cisgender females who are dating a cisgender male say they were forced into intercourse by their partner, while a similar number reported experiencing physical abuse — an increase from the 2019 survey.
Misogyny in social media and the trend of male empowerment movements were looked at as well when taking into account the roots of some of these teen violence trends. The survey data points to higher incidences of cisgender boys endorsing misogynistic attitudes tending to equal higher reports of sexual and relationship violence.
Limiting screen time, connecting with teens and having discussions are important interventions for many of the survey’s results.
“Student engagement is the antidote,” said Scott Dredge, assistant principal at Frontier Regional School. “Question and challenge statements and beliefs [in teens] with curiosity, without shaming. Provide a safe space to express views without judgment and offer positive male role models.”
The “Trends in Youth Substance Use” category included questions on drugs used such as cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and heroin, as well as THC and marijuana or nicotine vaping.
Overall, the research found that drug use is the lowest it has been since 2007, with 1% of students reporting use of the more illicit drugs. Meanwhile, use of THC/marijuana pens and nicotine vapes is seen in about one out of 10 students.
Students cited social media, billboards and storefront signs as reasons why cannabis may be higher than the other categories in terms of use. Reported alcohol use is down to a 20-year low, with 15% of students reporting they recently used alcohol.
The study also points to a building trend, that many Franklin County and North Quabbin teens are not willing to date someone who drinks alcohol, uses cannabis or smokes tobacco, which may account for the drop in use across all categories.
The Communities That Care Coalition develops a yearly action plan devised from the data collected. The coalition shares the action plan with the community in an open forum and then drafts priorities for community education and engagement for the following year.
Ongoing community and school engagement programs such as forming a regional school health task force, a parent and family engagement workshop, infant and early childhood mental health roundtables, a community support workgroup for young people and a youth leadership program have all been initiated in part through surveys.
“What really works is making sure students are connected to school, community and family,” Allen said. “This upstream approach works much better for our youth than other traditional prevention campaigns.”
To view the 2026 survey data, visit communitiesthatcarecoalition.com.