Updated October 2026 with the newest CDC data, research on school phone bans, and what parents need to know about AI deepfakes.
School is where young people spend most of their waking hours. It shapes how they see themselves, who they trust, and how they handle stress. When school goes well, it protects mental health. When it does not, it can be the place where anxiety, depression, and school avoidance begin.
I have spent my career sitting with families at the moment school stopped working for their child. Often the first sign was small: a stomachache on Sunday nights, a slipping grade, a friend group that suddenly went quiet. This article answers the questions I hear most about school's impact on mental health and bullying, using the latest research.
How Does School Affect Mental Health?
There is real good news. In 2025, 33% of U.S. high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, down from 40% in 2023 and 42% in 2021. The share who seriously considered suicide fell from 20% to 14% over the same two years (CDC, 2026).
That progress is not shared equally. In 2025, 43% of girls reported persistent sadness or hopelessness, compared with 24% of boys (Louisiana Illuminator). One in three students still struggles, and school is where much of that struggle shows up.
Three parts of school life matter most.
1. Academic Pressure and Performance Anxiety
Grades, tests, college admissions, and packed schedules can turn learning into a constant performance. Many students I have worked with were not failing. They were high achievers who could not stop worrying about the next grade. Over time, that pressure can show up as anxiety, perfectionism, poor sleep, and depression.
2. Social Dynamics and Peer Relationships
Friendships are the center of a teenager's world. Feeling included protects mental health. Loneliness, exclusion, and bullying do the opposite, and the harm often carries from the hallway into the group chat at night.
3. School Stressors and School Avoidance
Exams, homework overload, early start times, and unsafe hallways all add up. For some students, the stress becomes so heavy that walking through the school door feels impossible. This is called school avoidance, or school refusal, and it is one of the clearest signs that school and mental health have collided.
Nationally, chronic absenteeism has stalled at about 22 to 23% of students, roughly 50% higher than before the pandemic (Attendance Works / SchoolStatus). In one 2025–26 survey, half of chronically absent students said they felt anxious about school (University of Arkansas). A child who will not go to school is rarely being lazy. Most often, they are overwhelmed.
Mental health underpins everything else school asks of a child: focus, memory, motivation, and the ability to recover from a bad day.
Why Is Mental Health Important for Students?
Academic Performance
A student who is anxious or depressed has less energy left for learning. They may miss school, fall behind, and then feel more anxious about catching up. That cycle is one of the most common patterns I see in families who reach out to me.
Long-Term Consequences
Adolescence is when many mental health conditions first appear. A large 2021 global review found that about one in three conditions begins before age 14, and about half begin by age 18 (Solmi et al., Molecular Psychiatry). Getting help early, while a child is still in school, can change their adult life's path.
Healthy Relationships and a Positive School Climate
Students who feel emotionally steady build stronger friendships and trust the adults around them. One trusted teacher, coach, or counselor can make a struggling student far more likely to ask for help. When schools talk openly about mental health, stigma shrinks and students reach out sooner.
How Does Bullying Affect Mental Health?
While student mental health is improving, bullying is not. In 2025, 19.7% of high school students said they were bullied on school property, about the same as 2023 and up from a low of 15% in 2021 (Louisiana Illuminator). That is roughly one in five students.
Bullying is repeated, intentional harm toward someone who has less power. It can be physical, verbal, social (exclusion and rumors), or online.
The Effects of Bullying
Students who are bullied often feel constant fear, shame, and isolation. Common effects include:
- Anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem
- Trouble sleeping, headaches, and stomachaches
- Falling grades and missed school
- Withdrawing from friends and activities
- In some cases, trauma symptoms that last into adulthood
Cyberbullying and Social Media
Today, bullying rarely stops at the end of the school day. CDC data from 2023 found that students who used social media frequently were more likely to be bullied at school and online, and more likely to report persistent sadness and some suicide risk (CDC MMWR). In 2025, about one in three students (36%) said they used social media every hour or more (CDC, 2026).
AI Deepfakes: A New Form of Bullying
Parents need to know about this one. Some students now use AI apps to create fake nude or humiliating images of classmates from ordinary photos. In a national RAND survey, 22% of high school principals said their school had dealt with bullying involving AI-generated images, deepfakes, or fake online identities (EdCircuit). A Thorn survey found that 11% of students ages 9 to 17 knew friends or classmates who had made deepfake nudes of other students (SAN).
The images are fake, but the shame and harassment are real. Girls are targeted most often. If this happens to your child, save evidence, report it to the school and the platform, and know that it is not their fault.
What Can Schools Do to Protect Student Mental Health?
Do School Phone Bans Help?
At least 38 states and Washington, D.C., now restrict phones in schools (Youth Policy Lab). The largest study so far looked at more than 40,500 schools from 2019 to 2026. Student well-being dipped in the first year of a ban, then rose in the second year and stayed higher after that (GovTech).
The same research found no effect on test scores, attendance, classroom attention, or online bullying (Youth Policy Lab). My takeaway for parents: a phone ban can help over time, but it is not a cure. Bullying simply moves to after-school hours.
Build School Connectedness
The strongest protection a school can offer is a sense of belonging. The CDC recommends building school connectedness because it lowers risky behavior and improves mental health (Second Step). In my 500+ site visits, the schools that stood out were the ones where every student had at least one adult who knew them well.
Other Steps That Work
- Clear anti-bullying policies that name cyberbullying and AI-generated images
- Anonymous ways for students to report what they see
- Social-emotional learning and conflict-resolution skills
- Counselors who have time to actually meet with students
- Partnership between parents, teachers, and the wider community
Warning Signs and When to Get More Help
Trust your instincts. Reach out for support if your child:
- Refuses or dreads going to school, or has frequent physical complaints on school days
- Has a sudden drop in grades or loses interest in activities they once loved
- Pulls away from friends or seems upset after time online
- Shows changes in sleep, appetite, or mood that last more than two weeks
- Talks about feeling hopeless, worthless, or like a burden
Start with your child's pediatrician, a school counselor, or a therapist. If support at home and school is not enough, there are more options, including intensive outpatient programs, therapeutic boarding schools, and residential treatment. An educational or therapeutic consultant can help you sort through them.
If your child is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time of day.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is student mental health getting better? Yes, overall. Persistent sadness among high school students fell from 42% in 2021 to 33% in 2025. Girls and students who are bullied still struggle at much higher rates.
- How common is bullying in school? About one in five high school students reports being bullied on school property each year, a rate that has not improved since 2023.
- Do school phone bans improve mental health? They may help over time. The largest study found well-being dipped in the first year, then improved, with no change in grades or online bullying.
- What is school avoidance? School avoidance, or school refusal, is when anxiety or depression makes it very hard for a child to attend school. It is a mental health concern, not a discipline problem.
- What should I do if my child is targeted by an AI deepfake? Save screenshots, report the image to the school and the platform, and get your child emotional support. Remind them it is not their fault.
Sources
- CDC: Data Show Encouraging Progress in Youth Health (2026)
- CDC MMWR: Frequent Social Media Use and Bullying Victimization, YRBS 2023
- Louisiana Illuminator: CDC's Latest Youth Behavior Report
- Second Step: New Insights on High School Student Health
- GovTech: School Phone Bans Boost Student Wellness, Not Grades
- Youth Policy Lab: School Cellphone Bans Are a Mixed Bag
- Youth Policy Lab: Study Finds Phone Bans Yield Mixed Results
- EdCircuit: AI Deepfakes, the New School Safety Threat
- SAN: Deepfake Abuse on the Rise (Thorn survey)
- Attendance Works / SchoolStatus: 2026 Attendance Data
- University of Arkansas: Student Absenteeism Root Causes Survey 2025–26
- Solmi, M., et al. (2021). Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide. Molecular Psychiatry.
Originally published: July 24, 2023