There is concern that adolescents today are experiencing a “mental health crisis” compared to previous generations. Research has lacked a longitudinal time-lag design to directly compare depressive symptoms and social anxiety of adolescents in two generations. The current study surveyed 1081 adolescents in the current generation (Mage = 14.60, SD = 0.31, 49% female) and 1211 adolescents in a previous generation (Mage = 14.40, SD = 0.51, 51% female) across the high school years (grades 9–12), 20 years apart. Mixed-effects analysis revealed that the Current-Sample reported higher and increasing mental health problems over time compared to the Past-Sample. Although most adolescents reported consistently low mental health problems, the Current-Sample had a higher proportion of adolescents who were consistently at risk across the high school years compared to the Past-Sample. These findings highlight while most adolescents in both generations do not report elevated mental health problems, there may be a small, yet growing, group of adolescents today at risk for experiencing a “mental health crisis”.

人们担心，与前几代人相比，今天的青少年正在经历“心理健康危机”。研究缺乏纵向时滞设计来直接比较两代青少年的抑郁症状和社交焦虑。目前的研究调查了当前一代的 1081 名青少年（M年龄 = 14.60，SD = 0.31,49% 女性）和上一代的 1211 名青少年（M年龄 = 14.40，SD = 0.51,51 % 女性），相隔 20 年。 混合效应分析显示，与过去样本相比，当前样本报告的心理健康问题随着时间的推移更高且不断增加。尽管大多数青少年报告的心理健康问题一直很低，但与过去样本相比，当前样本在整个高中时期始终处于危险中的青少年比例更高。这些发现强调，虽然两代人的大多数青少年都没有报告严重的心理健康问题，但今天可能有一小群但不断增长的青少年面临经历“心理健康危机”的风险。