Students across the United States are heading back to school. This is the 11th back-to-school season we’ve witnessed at Crisis Text Line, and, over the years, we’ve noticed some key patterns. This is part 1 of our school anxiety series.

1. School anxiety is very common in our conversations with texters.

On average, nearly 1 in 4 Crisis Text Line conversations include mentions of school-related stress or anxiety (23%). Predictably, this is much higher among school-aged texters: 40% of conversations with texters under 18, and 30% among texters aged 18-24. For context, this means that school-related stress conversations are more common than conversations about suicide. School stress is of course quite cyclical. Every year, these conversations surge when school is in session, and drop when it is not.

2. Aside from feeling overwhelmed, texters discuss relationships to peers and adults, feeling lonely, suicidal, and many other topics.

The most common topic of conversations on school anxiety is about feeling nervous, overwhelmed, unmotivated, or hating school (27% or over 1 in 4 conversations). However, many other issues surfaced as well. Feeling lonely and other challenges in interacting with peers also came up, including breakups and bullying. A number of texters talked to us about grieving, self harm, feeling stressed about money or homelessness, as well as body image issues, and sexual assault or rape.

3. The content of school anxiety conversations depends a lot on how old texters are.

Texters of all ages discuss themes of school-related anxiety and stress, though of course most of these conversations come from school-aged texters. Among these texters, we’ve noticed some important differences depending on whether they were under 18 or between 18 and 24.

• Texters under 18 talk more about bullying and relationships with friends, siblings, parents and teachers.
• 18-24-year-olds talk more about financial stress, having to find a job, feelings of failure, sexual abuse and specific mental health diagnoses.

4. A note on the positive aspects of school

School might be a source of stress for texters, but it also can be an important source of comfort and support.

Many texters tell us that the friendships that they form at school are a crucial support and source of resilience. To cope with mental health crises, young people need opportunities for social connection as well as opportunities to engage in music, writing, visual, and performing arts, mental health services, and sports; many students socialize and access these resources primarily through their schools. Click here to find more  resources young people need in our Community Resilience Report.

You can also check out our new Back-to-School Mental Health Essentials, designed specifically to help students manage their stress and anxiety.

Methodology note and limitations:

Our texters are not representative of the U.S. population. All conversations in this analysis were anonymized and de-identified. Issues like are tagged by Crisis Counselors in a survey after the conversation ends; school anxiety was tagged based on a list of keywords mentioned in conversations. Age is collected in an optional post-conversation survey. We included English conversations only, and only conversations that took place in the United States; that were not pranks or tests, and where the texter did not drop off before engaging with the Crisis Counselor. 

To learn more about our research and methodology, please email research@crisistextline.org

For media requests, please reach out to Vanessa Showalter, Crisis Text Line’s Senior Communications Director, at press@crisistextline.org