State advisory council hears YRBS: 10% of students attempted suicide; survey flags easy gun access

Dr. Ellen Essick, a section chief at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, presented 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) findings to the State Advisory Council on Student Health and Well‑Being, highlighting continued mental‑health concerns and student access to firearms.

The YRBS, administered to randomly selected middle and high schools across the state, shows long‑term trends in behaviors that affect student health. Essick noted that cigarette smoking remains low (about 4 percent) and that vaping peaked in 2015–2019 before falling to roughly 21 percent in 2023; she said alcohol and marijuana use have declined compared with 2013 for some measures. "This is student data for your thinking students lie. They don't actually... they tell us the truth," Essick said, describing the survey's anonymity and methodology.

Why it matters: the data are guiding the council's work on policy and practice. Essick highlighted troubling suicide‑related measures and school‑safety signals: "10 percent of our students attempted suicide," she said, and she reported that the share of high‑school students who said they could get and be ready to fire a loaded gun in under an hour is about 30 percent. Those findings prompted council discussion of prevention, safe‑storage outreach and possible legislative responses.

Council members tied the survey to policy. The state board recently added a requirement for 10 minutes of physical activity per high‑school day, a change Essick said was informed by YRBS evidence linking physical activity with better mental‑health outcomes. Chair (unnamed) told the group that the gun‑access data have helped shape an "empty safe" secure‑storage campaign involving local law enforcement and public‑health partners and noted a legislative proposal under reconsideration to lower the possession age to 18 while removing the concealed‑carry permit requirement; the chair said there appeared to be bipartisan interest in retaining safety‑related details.

Participants asked technical questions about the survey and implementation. When asked whether the questionnaire distinguishes edible forms of marijuana ("gummies"), a staff member summarized the form options, noting the 2025 instrument asks how marijuana was used in the past 30 days and that choice C is "I ate it in food such as brownies, cakes, cookies, or candy." Essick said the 2025 YRBS had been submitted and would be weighted and cleaned by the CDC, with results expected in late December or early January.

Essick cautioned about data limits: county‑level results are not widely available (only five districts were oversampled), so the council will largely rely on state trends and district‑level analyses where available. She urged pairing school and community resources — law enforcement, public health and education — to address safety and mental‑health concerns.

Next steps: the council directed staff to use the YRBS findings to inform subcommittee work on student safety, behavioral health and physical health and to incorporate stakeholder suggestions into upcoming agendas. The council scheduled its next meeting for Sept. 29 from 9 a.m.–11:30 a.m.