Updated: February, 2024

Author: Adolescent Health Program, Vermont Department of Health

This indicator, or population measure, is part of our Healthy Vermonters 2030 data set. Read more about how this data helps us understand and improve the well-being of people in Vermont on the Healthy Vermonters 2030 webpage.

Because this data is meant to show how the health of our state changes during the decade from 2020-2030, some indicators may have very few data points for now. Keep checking back to see the progress our public health system and partners are making.

Just over half of all high school students agree or strongly agree that in their community they matter to people. However, 16% do not believe that they matter to people.

We want to see the percent of high school students who report that they matter to people in their community increase to 59.3% or higher by 2030.

The target rate of 59.3% was selected as an achievable improvement on the baseline rate of 58.3% (2019).

Looking for more data?

• See more data about high school students feeling that they matter to their community in the recent and past Youth Risk Behavior Survey reports.
• See a related national Healthy People 2030 objective for increasing the proportion of adolescents who have an adult they can talk to.

Research has linked connection with a caring adult, at school, at home and in the community with a reduction of health risk factors.

Data demonstrates that youth who feel that they matter to people in their community have healthier behaviors (nutrition and physical exercise) and decreased harmful behavior (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, impaired driving, and risky sexual activity).

This leads to long term positive health outcomes, including:

• improved mental health,
• reduced teen suicide,
• reduced teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) transmission,
• reduced obesity and other chronic health conditions,
• and fewer motor vehicle accidents.

See the data on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey webpage.

School and community connectedness is beneficial to all youth, but not all youth benefit equally.

According to available data, White and non-Hispanic students are significantly more likely than BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students to feel like they matter to people in their community. Also, heterosexual cisgender students are significantly more likely than LGBTQ+ students to feel like they matter to people in their community. There are many reasons for this.

Youth who report experiencing racism, youth from racial and ethnic groups who represent a minority in their community, and youth who identify as LGBTQ+ often feel less connected at school and in their communities. Connectedness strategies play an important role in increasing inclusivity and reducing health disparities.

Having this data available can improve our ability to understand health inequities across multiple marginalized and intersecting populations.

The Vermont Department of Health supports strategies that focus on increasing protective factors that help youth make positive connections with peers and supportive adults within their community. This indicator can inform a broad body of work in the Division of Family and Child Health, and several other divisions within the Health Department. Collaboration also includes other departments in the Agency of Human Services (Department of Mental Health and the Department for Children and Families), as well as many essential community partners, like Vermont Afterschool, Inc., and the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program.

An example of successful programs is the Community and school level Positive Youth Development programs (PYD), which works at the community and school levels. PYD programming strengthens young people’s sense of identity, belief in the future, self-regulation, and self-efficacy as well as their social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral abilities. They provide youth with networks of supportive adults and opportunities for connectedness. Unlike many prevention programs that focus solely on risk behaviors, PYD programs aim to develop and enhance positive characteristics of individuals and their surrounding social environment. By increasing protective factors rather than focusing on risk behaviors related to a single adverse outcome, PYD programs have benefits across a range of health and academic outcomes.

Research has also found positive youth development programs to be effective in reducing sexual risk behaviors, HIV, other STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), and unintended pregnancy. These programs also have the potential to prevent substance use and violence behaviors that can contribute to HIV and other STD risk. Importantly, these programs are also associated with improvements in academic performance.

Another key strategy for improvement includes fostering opportunities for meaningful youth engagement through:

• The creation and support of The Vermont State Youth Council and the Vermont Youth Project, in partnership with Vermont Afterschool, Inc.
• The Personal Responsibility Education Program: Making Proud Choices that supports implementing evidence-based curriculum aimed at teen pregnancy prevention, STI prevention, promoting consent, and inclusive sexual health education. This is an important part of overall adolescent sexual health programming.
• VT-RAYS (Raise Awareness for Youth Services), a specialty youth group focused on adolescent and young adult public health issues. This group has a particular focus on improving access and utilization of preventive health services.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is survey administered in Vermont middle and high schools every two years. The survey is sponsored by many organizations across the state, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The YRBS measures the prevalence of behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disease, and injury among youth. Vermont surveys over 30,000 students at each administration. Local data is used by schools, supervisory unions, health programs and other local organizations. The YRBS is completed in over 40 other states and there is a national sample for comparison for most questions. Data will be updated as it becomes available, and timing is based on when results from the survey are released.

When looking at the trend over time, it is important to compare 2021 data to 2019 data with caution. The 2021 survey was given in the fall of 2021 rather than the usual spring schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant those taking the survey were about six months younger than they would have been if the survey was given on schedule. Additionally, while schools were back to in-person learning, there were still major impacts from the pandemic impacting school and home life.