Month: January 2025

Mental Health Monday: The strategy that can make achieving your New Year’s resolution more likely

Mental Health Monday - illustration of line drawings with mental health themes

This is part of a regular series called Mental Health Monday. Our goal is to share information about mental health trends and research, as well as suggestions for what we can do as individuals and communities to improve the mental health of ourselves and others. 

 

For better luck on your New Year’s resolution, make it S.M.A.R.T.

Some studies say 80 percent of people quit their New Year’s resolutions by February. Why? At the end of the year, people tend to look back and focus on their struggles during the past year. This often leads to creating lofty goals (resolutions) for the New Year that focus on drastic changes. For example, an individual who does not work out regularly resolves to work out daily or lose 50 pounds in six months.

The inability to meet such lofty goals leads to guilt, shame, stress, and self-doubt.

Here are some tips on how to be S.M.A.R.T. about New Year’s resolutions:

  • Be Specific: don’t make broad sweeping resolutions. Focus on one specific thing that you would like to improve. For example: “eat more fruits and vegetables” instead of “eat better.”
  • Have a Way to Measure: To limit frustration, create a measurable goal. Being able to measure will limit frustration by showing improvement. Example: “Add one serving of fruit at least five days per week.”
  • Be Realistic! For success to be possible, goals must be reasonably attainable. Telling yourself to add a cup of vegetables to every meal may not be possible with your lifestyle. Choose a plan that is attainable at the moment. You can always increase the goal once you have succeeded with the original goal.
  • Make it Relevant. Resolutions must be relevant to your life and needs. Just because there is a push on social media or from friends to try something, does not mean it will work for you. If it does not have meaning or purpose for you, it will be hard to stick with.
  • Goals Should Have a Timeline. Again, don’t set yourself up for failure. Set challenging, but realistic timelines for achieving success. If your resolution is significant, you may want to break it down into smaller goals and set timelines for each segment.

Overall, you want to set meaningful resolutions that will address areas in your life that are important to you. This means that you should spend some time reflecting on your values and current state of living. Don’t just make a resolution because it is a new year. Focus on self-care and small steps you can take to help decrease stress, improve quality of life, and build a stronger you.

Mental Health Monday: Study shows strong link between adverse childhood experiences and risky behaviors, including suicide

Mental Health Monday - illustration of line drawings with mental health themes

This is part of a regular series called Mental Health Monday. Our goal is to share information about mental health trends and research, as well as suggestions for what we can do as individuals and communities to improve the mental health of ourselves and others. 

 

Study shows strong link between adverse childhood experiences and risky behaviors, including suicide

Data from a 2023 survey of U.S. high school students show two troubling findings about this population: First, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common, with about three in four students (76.1%) experiencing one or more ACEs and approximately one in five students (18.5%) experiencing four or more ACEs. Second, students with more ACEs were significantly more likely to engage in risky behaviors. “The strongest associations were observed between experiencing four or more ACEs and attempted suicide, seriously considered attempting suicide, and current prescription opioid misuse,” according to the survey’s authors.

“Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health Conditions and Risk Behaviors Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023” was published by the Centers for Disease Control in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in October 2024.

The link between ACEs and a long list of risky behaviors and poor health outcomes has been known from previous research, but that research was typically based on surveys of adults, some of whom were asked to remember events from decades prior, or of parents about their children. This 2023 survey also included questions about violence-related ACEs (including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) that had typically not been included in previous surveys.

The ACEs the survey measured were emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; physical neglect; witnessed intimate partner violence; household substance use; household poor mental health; and incarcerated or detained parent or guardian. The health conditions and risky behaviors measured were violence risk factors, substance use, sexual behaviors, weight and weight perceptions, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Some of the findings:

  • “The most common ACEs were emotional abuse (61.5%), physical abuse (31.8%), and household poor mental health (28.4%).”
  • “Students who identified as female; American Indian or Alaska Native; multiracial; or gay or lesbian, bisexual, questioning, or who describe their sexual identity in some other way experienced the highest number of ACEs.”
  • “Population-attributable fractions associated with experiencing ACEs were highest for suicide attempts (89.4%), seriously considering attempting suicide (85.4%), and prescription opioid misuse (84.3%).”

Read the full survey findings here.

 

Let’s do more

  • One lesson for those seeking to improve the mental health of adolescents is that many of the factors that lead to poor mental health are out of the sphere of what we’d consider mental health. Improving youth mental health requires a “whole child” approach with people across many sectors working to improve outcomes.
  • Another lesson is that what happens in children’s early lives has an outsized influence on the choices they make later—and it’s possible that neither adolescents nor those around them are aware of the connection between current choices and past experiences that were beyond the child’s control. This may help those who work with youth to be more understanding of adolescents who engage in risky behaviors.
  • In this, as in many other public health matters, the most effective way to improve outcomes is to focus on prevention. How can we reduce the number of ACEs that children experience? Anything we can do early in a child’s life will make healthier outcomes more likely in the years that follow.

 

 

Mental Health Monday: Study shows strong link between adverse childhood experiences and risky behaviors, including suicide

Mental Health Monday - illustration of line drawings with mental health themes

This is part of a regular series called Mental Health Monday. Our goal is to share information about mental health trends and research, as well as suggestions for what we can do as individuals and communities to improve the mental health of ourselves and others. 

 

Study shows strong link between adverse childhood experiences and risky behaviors, including suicide

Data from a 2023 survey of U.S. high school students show two troubling findings about this population: First, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common, with about three in four students (76.1%) experiencing one or more ACEs and approximately one in five students (18.5%) experiencing four or more ACEs. Second, students with more ACEs were significantly more likely to engage in risky behaviors. “The strongest associations were observed between experiencing four or more ACEs and attempted suicide, seriously considered attempting suicide, and current prescription opioid misuse,” according to the survey’s authors.

“Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health Conditions and Risk Behaviors Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023” was published by the Centers for Disease Control in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in October 2024.

The link between ACEs and a long list of risky behaviors and poor health outcomes has been known from previous research, but that research was typically based on surveys of adults, some of whom were asked to remember events from decades prior, or of parents about their children. This 2023 survey also included questions about violence-related ACEs (including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) that had typically not been included in previous surveys.

The ACEs the survey measured were emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; physical neglect; witnessed intimate partner violence; household substance use; household poor mental health; and incarcerated or detained parent or guardian. The health conditions and risky behaviors measured were violence risk factors, substance use, sexual behaviors, weight and weight perceptions, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Some of the findings:

  • “The most common ACEs were emotional abuse (61.5%), physical abuse (31.8%), and household poor mental health (28.4%).”
  • “Students who identified as female; American Indian or Alaska Native; multiracial; or gay or lesbian, bisexual, questioning, or who describe their sexual identity in some other way experienced the highest number of ACEs.”
  • “Population-attributable fractions associated with experiencing ACEs were highest for suicide attempts (89.4%), seriously considering attempting suicide (85.4%), and prescription opioid misuse (84.3%).”

Read the full survey findings here.

 

Let’s do more

  • One lesson for those seeking to improve the mental health of adolescents is that many of the factors that lead to poor mental health are out of the sphere of what we’d consider mental health. Improving youth mental health requires a “whole child” approach with people across many sectors working to improve outcomes.
  • Another lesson is that what happens in children’s early lives has an outsized influence on the choices they make later—and it’s possible that neither adolescents nor those around them are aware of the connection between current choices and past experiences that were beyond the child’s control. This may help those who work with youth to be more understanding of adolescents who engage in risky behaviors.
  • In this, as in many other public health matters, the most effective way to improve outcomes is to focus on prevention. How can we reduce the number of ACEs that children experience? Anything we can do early in a child’s life will make healthier outcomes more likely in the years that follow.