State of Young People 2024 Research Report

NEW STUDY SHOWS YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE LOW LEVELS OF TRUST IN AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS AND ADULTS, AND DESIRE GREATER ACCESS TO CIVIC EDUCATION AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES  

The State of Young People research initiative, which surveyed teens and young adults nationwide, also found young people are divided about whether AI should be allowed in schools. 

Contact: Lindsey Seltzer, America’s Promise Alliance, Vice President of Communications, 202-674-9836 

Washington, D.C.— Today, America’s Promise Alliance released its first annual State of Young People report, which shows that trust in institutions and adults is low among youth, who also seek greater access to civic education and mental health services.  

The research found that many young people are experiencing significant sources of stress in their lives, with about a quarter of young people saying that they would like more mental health services. About three in four young people believe that seeking help from others can help address emotional problems (78%) and indicate that they would seek psychological help if needed (76%). Young people generally recommend that schools and community-based organizations expand individual counseling services (81%), with some interest in increasing education, outreach, or peer-led groups as well. 

Additionally, many young people see and feel social divisions in society and are mistrustful of the American political system. Approximately seven in 10 young people (69%) feel that the nation is more divided than ever, just one in four (23%) trust adults in their own community, and just one in five (19%) believe society is headed toward a better future. With an eye toward the future, seven in 10 young people (68%) tend to think that it is important to correct social inequality and want political leaders to focus on the U.S. economy, education, and healthcare, among other key social issues. 

Amid all of this, young people want access to civic education and engagement opportunities, but few have frequent opportunities to do so, even outside of school. Nine in 10 young people (91%) believe that everyone should have access to civic education, however, just four in 10 (43%) young people feel even somewhat prepared, based on their civic education experiences, to participate civically.  

“While the findings highlight serious challenges confronting young people today, they also offer valuable insights to inform how nonprofits can partner with young people to design more effective solutions,” said Sean Flanagan, Vice President of Research and Evaluation at America’s Promise Alliance. “By pinpointing key areas of need and opportunity, we can develop more tailored, youth-informed strategies that build trust, drive engagement, align resources, and turn research into action to better support young people.”  

At a time when young people in the U.S. are experiencing historically high levels of stress, social divisiveness, and civic upheaval, the 2024 State of Young People research initiative examined the ways in which deeper knowledge of young people’s lived experiences and proposed solutions to some of society’s greatest challenges can meaningfully inform the work of the many organizations and institutions that serve them.  

“We believe the practitioners on the front lines supporting young people day in and day out are uniquely well-positioned to understand where the most important gaps are in our existing dialogue and evidence,” said Mike O’Brien, CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “By co-creating the research agenda with more than 50 of our member organizations and engaging directly with young people in a conversation that’s typically dominated by adults, we ensure that the data are meaningful and that the results are actionable for youth-supporting organizations across the country.” 

The research focused on social divisiveness and healing, civic education, artificial intelligence, and mental health—issues that nonprofit leaders identified as the most important areas for deeper learning and listening in 2024. Additional findings from the research include: 

• Young people are not universally convinced of the benefits of AI and are divided about whether AI should be allowed in schools. Only three in 10 young people think AI will improve their lives (31%), whereas nearly two-thirds (64%) believe that the misuse of AI could result in substantial risk to humanity. Further, few young people appear to be early adopters of AI: only about three in 10 (31%) report using AI once a week or more and few are confident that their teachers know how to use AI effectively to support their learning (32%). 

• More than one third of young people are not thriving; rates of thriving are especially low among young adults and young people who identify as LGBTQ+. About six in 10 young people (59%) are thriving, while young adults are thriving at lower rates than teens (49% v. 73%) and young people who identify as LGBTQ+ are thriving at much lower rates than other young people (38% v. 64%). 

The State of Young People report is a collaborative effort among leaders from over 50 America’s Promise Alliance Community member organizations and a nationally representative sample of over 1,500 young people of various ages, backgrounds, geographies, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. To conduct the study, APA partnered with Mathematica and NORC at the University of Chicago to design and implement a nationally representative online survey of 1,555 teens and young adults (ages 13-24) fielded in June and July 2024, and a series of qualitative focus groups in July 2024.   

For more information about the State of Young People research initiative, visit our website.  

About America’s Promise Alliance 
Since its founding more than 25 years ago, America’s Promise Alliance has mobilized the youth-serving sector to achieve progress around large, shared goals, including high school graduation, national service, and youth employment. A national community of more than 100 nonprofits that collectively reach 25 million young people annually, the Alliance offers leadership development, knowledge sharing, and capacity building programming alongside national research and multi-organizational collaboration initiatives that make it possible to tackle challenges that are too large or too complex for any one organization to address on its own.