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Youth with Persistent Feelings of Sadness and Hopelessness in the Past Year by County, Grades 9-12, New Mexico,

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Why Is This Important?

Feelings of sadness or hopelessness are a risk factor for depression. Students who report feelings of sadness or hopelessness are more likely than other students to report suicide attempts, cigarette smoking, binge drinking and illicit drug use. The prevalence of feelings of sadness or hopelessness among youth in NM and the US has remained relatively stable since 2001. In 2015, the prevalence among youth in NM (32.5%) was higher than that of the US (29.9%), although this difference was not statistically significant.

Youth with Persistent Feelings of Sadness and Hopelessness in the Past Year by County, Grades 9-12, New Mexico,

The prevalence of youth who felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in the past 12 months ranged from 23.3% in Mora County to 46.2% in Sierra County.
  • **The estimate has been suppressed because the number of events and population size are small and not appropriate for publication, or it could be used to calculate the number in a cell that has been suppressed.

Definition

Percentage of students grades 9-12 in a NM public school who felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities during the past 12 months. The NM Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS) is administered in odd years and is part of the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS), coordinated and designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Each state, territorial, tribal, and large urban school district participating in YRBS employs a two-stage, cluster sample design to produce a representative sample of students in grades 9-12 in its jurisdiction. In the first sampling stage, in all except a few sites, schools are selected with probability proportional to school enrollment size. In the second sampling stage, intact classes of a required subject or intact classes during a required period (e.g., second period) are selected randomly. All students in sampled classes are eligible to participate. A weight is applied to each student record to adjust for student nonresponse and the distribution of students by grade, sex, and race/ethnicity in each jurisdiction.

Data Notes

(**) Data suppressed due to small numbers.

Data Sources

  • U.S. data source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data
    (https://nccd.cdc.gov/Youthonline)
  • New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, New Mexico Department of Health and Public Education Department.

How the Measure is Calculated

Numerator:Number of students who answered, "Yes", to the question, "During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities?"
Denominator:Total number of respondents who answered the question, "During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities?"

Health Topic Pages Related to: Mental Health - Youth Feeling Sad/Hopeless

Community Health Resources and Links





Medical literature can be queried at the PubMed website.

Indicator Data Last Updated On 03/05/2021, Published on 11/02/2023
Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, Survey Section, Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health and Coordinated School Health & Wellness Bureau, NM Public Education Department. Contact NMDOH, 1190 S. Saint Francis Drive, P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM, 87502. Telephone: (505) 476-1779.