New Mexico students’ mental health has improved since the pandemic, a study shows

Nov. 25—Psychological distress, feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and suicide attempts among New Mexico public school students have declined, according to a 2023 biennial study.

However, the study may deviate from the norm on some important indicators, including the rate of student use of common forms of nicotine and other substances.

After a sharp increase or stagnation in youth mental health resources during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023, those resources have improved, a cause for optimism among lawmakers on the Health and Human Services Legislative Committee on Friday.

“It’s very, very encouraging to see a decline in many mental health issues,” said Rep. Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo.

State Department of Health Division of Public Health Director Dr. José Acosta noted that the positive results may be due in part to students returning to schools after the pandemic, as well as to school-based health centers.

More than 35,700 middle and high school students in 326 schools participated in the 2023 Youth Risk and Resilience Survey, which asked students about a range of behaviors, including those related to violence, substance abuse and sexual activity.

Department of Health spokesman David Morgan in an email highlighted apparent successes in mental health and alcohol, nicotine and other substance use, but noted that the agency hopes to continue to improve in some of these areas, as well as in obesity and obesity rates youth violence.

“We want ultimately to see these numbers reduce as well, because they are the main health concerns for young people,” he said, referring to behaviors such as fighting, bullying and sexual assault.

Lawmakers were able to get a glimpse of some of the results on Friday, but the full survey results have not been released. Morgan said the agency hopes to post them online soon.

No data available for Zyns, fentanyl

Vaping appears to be on the decline among college students in New Mexico. In 2023, approximately 19% of high school students vaped in the month prior to the survey. This is down from 25.3% in 2021, which in turn is down from 33.4% in 2019, the highest rate recorded in the last five surveys.

But the presentation to lawmakers did not include results from surveys of young people who used synthetic nicotine pouches, which officials signaled earlier this year could replace disposable vaporizers popular among young people.

Pouches, including those made by Zyn, are marketed as convenient, smokeless, and spit-free alternatives.

The survey asked about five forms of nicotine, including chewing tobacco, but Department of Health mental health epidemiologist Dylan Pell said the agency is changing the question to specifically address synthetic nicotine pouch products like Zyns.

Morgan also said the Department of Health will rework the survey question to include Zyn, based on media reports and other credible sources that the number of young people using them is increasing.

The survey also did not ask New Mexico youth about fentanyl use. Nationwide, illegally manufactured fentanyl accounted for 84% of all teen overdose deaths in 2021, according to a report released in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Friday’s presentation actually shows a decline in the abuse rate of prescription opioids such as codeine, Vicodin and OxyContin, as well as overall cannabis use. However, Pell said the next survey will include questions specifically about fentanyl.

Morgan added in an email, questionnaires must be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a year before they are administered. He said currently available data clearly shows that the 2025 survey will need to include at least one question related to fentanyl.

Some lawmakers noted the lack of data on nicotine pouches and fentanyl, but in interviews Monday said it wasn’t something they could blame the department for.

“I think in 2023, fentanyl was just popping up on the radar screen as a huge problem, which is probably why it wasn’t asked about,” said Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque.

“I think they should definitely monitor it. We need this data if we are to make good, sound political decisions,” he added.

Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, R-Albuquerque, said New Mexico has always had a hard time catching up with tobacco companies, a finding confirmed by the study.

“We always stand behind big tobacco or big pharma or whatever. By the time we find out what they are doing and deal with the bill that will come into force, they will already be ahead of us,” she said.

Increased suicide attempts among LGBTQ+ children

The percentage of high school students in New Mexico persistently feeling sad or hopeless has increased steadily since 2009, reaching a high of 44.2% in 2021.

Last year, however, this rate dropped to 36.7%. The presentation shows that this is the lowest result since 2017, but still higher than in 2009, which amounted to 29.7%.

From 2015 to 2021, the percentage of New Mexico high school students who attempted suicide in the past year remained stable at approximately 10%.

However, in 2023, this rate also dropped – only 8.4% of respondents admitted that they had made such attempts. According to a chart showing results since 2009, this is the lowest rate in 14 years.

However, some student groups had higher suicide attempt rates than others.

The presentation found that among lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning students, teens were more than three times as likely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual students, and transgender and non-binary students were more than four times as likely as their cisgender peers.

LGBTQ+ students face bullying and a variety of other social pressures, which leads to mental health problems, said Erica McDowell, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of New Mexico.

McDowell said it didn’t surprise her that LGBTQ+ students were more likely to experience suicide attempts, whether by discouraging teens from using their preferred pronouns or names at school or by asking questions about which bathroom they should use .

She believes that solving this issue will largely come down to adults and what they can do to make schools more inclusive, whether through training for teachers on incorporating inclusive language practices and curricula, or administrative policies regarding access to bathrooms.

“It’s really important to acknowledge what young people are experiencing and to listen. (…) What they’re experiencing is not wanting to listen to adults or not having enough skills to really hear what they’re saying,” McDowell said.

Esteban Candelaria is a member of Report for America, a national service program that connects journalists with local newsrooms. She works with child welfare and the state Department of Children, Youth and Family Services. More information about Report for America can be found at reportforamerica.org.