U.S. teens need far more emotional and social support

Addressing loneliness and isolation is crucial to fighting the youth mental health crisis.

Social support is sorely lacking for many U.S. teens. Only 58.5% of U.S. teens always or usually receive the social and emotional support they need, according to a report by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report drew on National Health Interview Survey and National Health Interview Survey–Teen data collected from parents and adolescents in 2021 and 2022.

While almost 2 in 5 teens said they were not getting the support they needed, a whopping 93.1% of parents believed otherwise, reporting their child received adequate social and emotional support. Unfortunately, what parents don’t know might hurt them. The CDC survey also found that lack of social support was associated with worse mental and physical health.

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