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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of adolescents who have an adult they can talk to about serious problems — AH‑03 Data

National Status: Improving

  
Learn more about our data release schedule

Most Recent Data:
77.9 percent (2023)

National Target:
78.4 percent  1

Desired Direction:
Increase desired

National Baseline:
74.2 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years had an adult in their lives with whom they could talk about serious problems in 2021 2

Disparities data are only available for some selections.

View CI in the chart by hovering over a data point.

View SE in the chart by hovering over a data point.

Confidence Interval (CI) not available Standard Error (SE) not available Confidence Interval (CI) and Standard Error (SE) are not available

Display data for:

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
Total
74.2
CI 72.9 / 75.5
SE 0.680
74.8
CI 73.6 / 75.9
SE 0.595
77.9
CI 76.8 / 79.0
SE 0.581

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Sex, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
Male
78.4
CI 76.6 / 80.0
SE 0.859
78.0
CI 76.4 / 79.5
SE 0.805
81.4
CI 79.9 / 82.9
SE 0.760
Female
69.9
CI 67.9 / 71.8
SE 1.010
71.5
CI 69.7 / 73.3
SE 0.916
74.3
CI 72.6 / 75.8
SE 0.820

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Race/Ethnicity, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
American Indian or Alaska Native only
59.5
CI 48.7 / 69.3
SE 5.315
72.8
CI 67.9 / 77.3
SE 2.411
70.8
CI 66.4 / 74.9
SE 2.163
Asian only
73.8
CI 67.8 / 79.1
SE 2.882
70.2
CI 64.2 / 75.6
SE 2.903
72.4
CI 66.9 / 77.2
SE 2.629
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only
DSU
DSU
DSU
Black or African American only
73.2
CI 69.7 / 76.4
SE 1.709
72.5
CI 69.6 / 75.2
SE 1.437
74.3
CI 71.3 / 77.0
SE 1.445
White only
74.8
CI 73.2 / 76.3
SE 0.806
75.7
CI 74.3 / 77.0
SE 0.696
79.5
CI 78.1 / 80.8
SE 0.693
2 or more races
73.2
CI 66.9 / 78.6
SE 2.978
76.1
CI 71.3 / 80.3
SE 2.280
76.7
CI 72.4 / 80.5
SE 2.047
Hispanic or Latino
70.4
CI 67.4 / 73.2
SE 1.473
71.8
CI 69.2 / 74.3
SE 1.291
76.0
CI 73.5 / 78.3
SE 1.225
Not Hispanic or Latino
75.6
CI 74.0 / 77.1
SE 0.782
75.8
CI 74.5 / 77.1
SE 0.666
78.6
CI 77.3 / 79.9
SE 0.648
American Indian or Alaska Native only, not Hispanic or Latino
DSU
79.2
CI 70.0 / 86.1
SE 4.108
68.9
CI 58.5 / 77.7
SE 4.947
Asian only, not Hispanic or Latino
73.8
CI 67.7 / 79.1
SE 2.916
70.2
CI 64.1 / 75.7
SE 2.945
73.6
CI 68.0 / 78.5
SE 2.700
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only, not Hispanic or Latino
DSU
DSU
DSU
Black or African American only, not Hispanic or Latino
73.0
CI 69.3 / 76.5
SE 1.827
73.0
CI 69.9 / 75.9
SE 1.533
75.0
CI 71.9 / 77.8
SE 1.518
White only, not Hispanic or Latino
76.9
CI 75.0 / 78.6
SE 0.912
77.1
CI 75.5 / 78.6
SE 0.780
80.4
CI 78.8 / 82.0
SE 0.801
2 or more races, not Hispanic or Latino
72.1
CI 64.8 / 78.3
SE 3.457
77.5
CI 72.4 / 81.8
SE 2.416
77.7
CI 72.9 / 81.8
SE 2.267

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Age group, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
12-13 years
77.3
CI 75.1 / 79.4
SE 1.095
80.1
CI 78.2 / 81.8
SE 0.907
81.8
CI 80.0 / 83.5
SE 0.888
14-15 years
73.6
CI 71.2 / 75.8
SE 1.156
72.7
CI 70.7 / 74.6
SE 0.981
76.8
CI 74.9 / 78.6
SE 0.933
16-17 years
71.7
CI 69.3 / 74.1
SE 1.205
71.8
CI 69.5 / 73.9
SE 1.133
75.6
CI 73.5 / 77.6
SE 1.020

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Family income (percent poverty threshold), 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
<100
72.8
CI 69.8 / 75.6
SE 1.480
73.4
CI 70.5 / 76.0
SE 1.401
74.6
CI 72.0 / 77.0
SE 1.282
100-199
72.3
CI 68.9 / 75.5
SE 1.671
72.0
CI 69.4 / 74.5
SE 1.307
77.4
CI 74.9 / 79.8
SE 1.263
200-399
74.1
CI 71.4 / 76.6
SE 1.320
74.6
CI 72.3 / 76.8
SE 1.143
77.0
CI 74.8 / 79.2
SE 1.122
400+
76.6
CI 74.1 / 78.9
SE 1.223
77.7
CI 75.5 / 79.7
SE 1.074
81.2
CI 79.2 / 83.1
SE 0.995

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Health insurance status, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
Insured
74.5
CI 73.1 / 75.8
SE 0.697
74.8
CI 73.6 / 76.0
SE 0.612
77.7
CI 76.6 / 78.9
SE 0.598
Private
76.2
CI 74.3 / 77.9
SE 0.913
76.9
CI 75.3 / 78.4
SE 0.775
80.0
CI 78.5 / 81.5
SE 0.785
Public
72.2
CI 70.1 / 74.2
SE 1.061
71.8
CI 69.9 / 73.5
SE 0.917
74.9
CI 73.2 / 76.5
SE 0.846
Uninsured
69.7
CI 62.6 / 75.9
SE 3.416
74.2
CI 68.0 / 79.5
SE 2.925
81.4
CI 76.2 / 85.7
SE 2.412

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Geographic location, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
Metropolitan
74.3
CI 72.8 / 75.7
SE 0.751
74.5
CI 73.3 / 75.8
SE 0.639
77.9
CI 76.7 / 79.1
SE 0.622
Non-metropolitan
74.1
CI 71.0 / 77.0
SE 1.509
76.8
CI 73.6 / 79.7
SE 1.550
78.1
CI 75.1 / 80.8
SE 1.471

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Country of birth, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
US
74.5
CI 73.1 / 75.8
SE 0.675
74.7
CI 73.5 / 75.9
SE 0.610
78.2
CI 77.0 / 79.4
SE 0.613
Outside US
71.0
CI 65.1 / 76.3
SE 2.878
75.7
CI 71.1 / 79.8
SE 2.220
74.4
CI 69.9 / 78.4
SE 2.175

Adolescents having an adult in their lives with whom they can discuss serious problems by Disability status, 2021-2023 ◊
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2021 2022 2023
People with disabilities
55.7
CI 52.2 / 59.2
SE 1.775
60.1
CI 57.1 / 63.0
SE 1.504
63.4
CI 60.5 / 66.3
SE 1.470
People without disabilities
78.4
CI 76.9 / 79.9
SE 0.769
78.4
CI 77.2 / 79.6
SE 0.633
81.6
CI 80.5 / 82.7
SE 0.580

Disparity