Washington, D.C., January 31, 2025 – The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) stands firm in its commitment to protecting those most at risk for suicide and advocating for policies that uphold dignity, equity, and the right to exist safely.

The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) expresses deep concern over the removal of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. The YRBSS has been a critical resource for tracking trends in youth health behaviors, including suicidal thoughts and behaviors, mental health challenges, substance use, and other risk factors that inform evidence-based prevention efforts.

For decades, the YRBSS has provided researchers, educators, policymakers, and public health professionals with essential data to develop much needed research studies, targeted interventions, and policy recommendations to better understand and support youth mental health. The removal of this resource raises serious concerns about transparency, accessibility, and the ability of organizations like ours to advocate for policies and programs that save lives.

We urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other relevant agencies to ensure continued access to this invaluable data, as limiting public availability hinders efforts to address the ongoing youth mental health crisis and prevent suicide. AAS remains committed to advancing research, prevention, and advocacy to protect all young people from suicide and related risks. There is no family, group or demographic that suicide does not impact. AAS is committed to helping our national community in building lives worth living and providing support to those in crisis. The YRBSS is an important resource in suicide prevention, providing essential data to inform effective approaches.

We call on our partners, policymakers and advocates to join us in urging the immediate, full restoration of the YRBSS website pages and data archives and ensure that comprehensive, data-driven and evidence-based approaches remain at the forefront of suicide prevention efforts.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact jgottlieb@suicidology.org.