Predictors of Adolescents’ Perceptions of Safety and Mental Health Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Perceived Safety

Background and Purpose:

Adolescent mental health in the United States is in crisis, with rising rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and suicide attempts reported over the past decade. While social-ecological frameworks highlight protective factors such as school connectedness and parental involvement, emerging evidence suggests that perceptions of safety within school and neighborhood environments may mediate these relationship. Adolescents who feel unsafe due to discrimination, victimization, or lack of support are at heightened risk for mental health outcomes. This study investigates whether perceived safety mediates the associations between school connectedness, parental knowledge, and adolescent mental health, specifically depressive symptoms and suicide attempts.

Methods:
Data were drawn from the 2021 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The sample consisted of 17,232 high school students with complete data on key study variables. Depressive symptoms were assessed using a single item on persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and suicide attempts were measured by self-reports of one or more attempts in the past 12 months. School connectedness was evaluated using a Likert-scale item regarding students’ feelings of being cared for at school, while parental knowledge was assessed based on adolescents’ reports of parental awareness of their whereabouts. Perceived safety was derived from two items assessing feelings of safety at school and in the neighborhood, dichotomized into high and low safety. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted using Jamovi v.2.6.23 to assess direct and indirect pathways, with model fit evaluated using the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA).

Results:
The SEM demonstrated good fit (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04). School connectedness (β = 0.32, p < .001) and parental knowledge (β = 0.28, p < .001) were positively associated with perceived safety. Perceived safety was significantly associated with lower odds of reporting depressive symptoms (OR = 0.56, 95% CI [0.48, 0.64]) and suicide attempts (OR = 0.49, 95% CI [0.39, 0.60]). Additionally, adolescents identifying as non-heterosexual reported lower perceived safety (β = –0.29, p < .001) and were at significantly higher risk for depressive symptoms (OR = 2.41) and suicide attempts (OR = 3.72). Mediation analyses indicated statistically significant indirect effects of school connectedness, parental knowledge, parental knowledge, and sexual identity on mental health outcomes through perceived safety.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings underscore perceived safety as a critical mechanism linking both protective and risk factors to adolescent mental health. Adolescents who identify as LGBTQ+ or belonging to racial/ethnic minority groups were more likely to report feeling unsafe, which in turn associated with increased emotional distress. These results points to the urgent need for trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and LGBTQ+-affirming policies and interventions within schools and communities. Social work practice and policy should prioritize the creation of supportive environments that foster adolescents’ sense of safety and belonging as a foundation for mental health and well-being. In doing so, support for adolescent mental health can be strengthened through the promotion of safety, inclusivity, and resilience.

Keywords: US adolescents; school connectedness; school safety; mental health.