SALT LAKE CITY — For more than two decades, the Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) survey has provided a comprehensive look at the challenges youth across the state face in their lives.
The latest survey offers some good news, showing mental health is improving and less students are using drugs and alcohol.
“When I learned about substance use prevention and seeing that we can make a change for kids in our community, to prevent these bigger issues from happening later, I was really drawn to that,” said Megan Crain, prevention coordinator at Davis Behavioral Health.
The recent SHARP data shows that about 3.8 percent of Utah students reported drinking in the last 30 days, compared to around 12.5 percent nationally. The number of students in the state who have ever used marijuana or vape products is also down from 2023 to 2025.
“We’ve used the SHARP survey findings in Davis County to bring in strategic programs for youth and parents to give people the skills that are needed to make it less likely that someone develops a substance abuse disorder,” Crain explained.
Mental health was another important topic in the survey, and showed that fewer students reported having symptoms of depression, and plans for suicide decreased for all grades by 28 percent from the last survey.
“The data really validates my own experience as a parent,” shared Alysa Stuart with the Salt Lake County Health Department. “My daughter comes home, and she’s had some experience with mental health challenges, some depressive ideation, which is throughout the state, statewide, youth are reporting very high numbers.”
As a mom herself, Stuart explained how the updated information helps her better support her own kids.
“Middle school is really, really hard, and I’ve seen that work. So I think as a parent and prevention specialist, it’s really great to see that those prevention strategies do work,” she said.
With a large sample size of more than 78,000 in the survey, the results could have a greater impact on our communities.
“Communities can really get down to understand what’s happening within their local bounds and to be able to do things that are going to be the most effective to their communities, versus trying to do a one-size-fits-all as a state looks as a whole,” explained Bach-Harrison program evaluation services director, Dr. Edward Ho.
As experts continue to dig into the survey data, they say they’ll be working on creating solutions in the heart of their communities.