Adolescent Health

This section focuses on how adolescents develop and the issues they may face as they mature. Featured resources provide more information on special topics in adolescent health.

  • Take Action for Adolescents™: The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) released Take Action for Adolescents – A Call to Action for Adolescent Health and Well-Being! The call to action acknowledges the diverse experiences of young people ages 10-24 and prioritizes their health and well-being.
  • National Adolescent Health Month™: OPA’s observance, National Adolescent Health Month, takes place each May. It emphasizes building on young people’s strengths, encourages meaningful youth engagement in adolescent health activities, and highlights key topics in adolescent health.
  • Adolescent Development Explained: Check out the OPA Adolescent Development Explained guide for information about the major developmental changes that occur in adolescence and how parents and caring adults can support adolescents.
  • Positive Youth Development: Learn about this strengths-based approach to adolescent health, meaningful youth engagement, and key practices for enhancing youth-serving programs.
  • Youth Create!: See the videos, poems, art, and other submissions to the Youth Create! call for content created by young people who participated in OPA's grantee programs.
  • Reproductive Health and Teen Pregnancy: Learn about trends in teen pregnancy, challenges in teen childbearing, strategies and approaches for prevention, and tips for parents and caring adults.
  • Healthy Relationships in Adolescence: Learn about how adolescents form safe and healthy relationships with friends, parents, teachers, and romantic partners.
  • Mental Health for Adolescents: Learn about common mental health warning signs and disorders among adolescents, disparities in access to mental health services, and treatment resources.
  • Substance Use in Adolescence: Get information and resources about adolescent substance use and ways to prevent it.
  • Physical Health in Developing Adolescents: Learn about the importance of clinical preventive services, how adolescents can be involved in their health care, and healthy behaviors for adolescents.
  • Adolescent Health Data: Check out interactive tools that allow users to explore publicly available federal data on the demographic and health characteristics of adolescents in the United States.

Featured Adolescent Health Resources

Online Health and Safety for Children and Youth: Best Practices for Families and Guidance for Industry

The Kids Online Health and Safety (KOHS) Task Force released a new report with recommendations for safer social media and online platform use for youth. The report summarizes:

  • Risks and benefits for young people’s health, safety, and privacy;
  • Best practices for parents and caregivers;
  • Recommended practices for industry;
  • A research agenda; and
  • Suggested future work.

KOHS is co-led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Gender-Affirming Care and Young People

Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of health care that consists of an array of services. For young people, receiving this care early is crucial to overall health and well-being. In this resource, OPA describes research that demonstrates the importance of gender-affirming care as well as common terms and services. Visit LGBTQI+ Health & Well-being for more information about LGBTQI+ health needs, access to health services, and addressing health disparities.

Note: HHS uses LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, or intersex) to reflect the diversity of this community. More specific terms are used in alignment with research and information sources. However, people who are part of this community may use various other terms to define their identity.

Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences (ABES) Survey

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new ABES data highlighting the magnitude of the challenges our nation’s youth faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is a nationally representative survey of U.S. high school students that explores how the pandemic impacted adolescents. It captured information on student health risk behaviors, experiences with COVID-19, emotional well-being, and more.