Bullying and depression remain two of the biggest challenges facing America’s youth. The Youth Bullying and Depression Vulnerability Index from Suzuki Law Offices ranks all 50 states using two measures: how often teens report regular bullying and how often they report major depressive episodes. West Virginia ranks highest, followed by Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming. Arizona ranks 38th. This article will place this index alongside separate data sources to build a fuller picture. The 2025 CDC data covers cyberbullying specifically in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Pew Research data show how harassment rates differ across Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. And recent CDC reporting shows real improvement in some national youth mental-health indicators, even as other vulnerabilities remain. Suzuki Law Offices also examined the funding context behind Meta’s recent settlement.
Where Cyberbullying Rates Run Highest
West Virginia (92.66), Iowa (83.48), New Hampshire (77.01), Oregon (76.57), and Wyoming (74.18) are the top five states in the Youth Bullying and Depression Vulnerability Index. To be clear: these numbers are scores, not percentages of teens affected. Each score blends two statistics: how many teens (ages 12–17) report regular bullying, and how many report major depressive episodes. Combined, those two rates decide where a state lands on the list. West Virginia’s top score comes from two numbers: 19.06% of teens report regular bullying, and 20.32% report a major depressive episode. Iowa is close behind, with 16.22% reporting regular bullying and 20.30% reporting depression. Both sets of numbers cover teens ages 12–17 during 2023–2024. But they come from separate surveys of different teens, not the same students answering both questions. That means they shouldn’t be added together or read as one combined “harm rate”—each percentage stands on its own.
Where Does Arizona Fit in The Youth Bullying and Depression Vulnerability Index?
Arizona lands in the middle of the pack, ranking 38th with a score of 26.01. Its inputs: 8.15% regular bullying and 16.78% major depressive episodes among teens 12–17. But this score doesn’t tell the cyberbullying story. That index measures overall risk from bullying and depression combined. A different, more specific survey shows where online bullying itself is most reported.
Table 1. Youth Bullying and Depression Vulnerability Index: all 50 states, 2023–2024
Note: Both component populations are ages 12–17. Regular bullying means being bullied, picked on, or excluded by other children at least 1–2 times per month, as reported by a parent or caregiver. Major depressive episodes are based on adolescent survey responses meeting the NSDUH symptom definition; they are not necessarily clinician diagnoses. Sources: Original weighted analysis of the 2023 and 2024 NSCH public-use files; SAMHSA 2023–2024 major-depressive-episode estimates published by KFF.
That index measures overall risk from bullying and depression combined. A different, more specific survey shows where online bullying itself is most reported.
The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey
The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey asks teens directly about being bullied electronically, through texting or social media, though this comparison currently covers 31 states and the District of Columbia, not all 50. Among those states, Missouri tops the list, with 19.36% of teens reporting electronic bullying. Illinois follows at 18.86%, and Arizona at 18.71%. For comparison, the national average sits lower, at 14.61%. Arizona’s position differs depending on which measure is used. On the broad vulnerability index, it ranks 38th. On the separate CDC electronic-bullying survey—a different question, a different age group, and a different respondent—it ranks 3rd. These are not the same measure and should not be read as a shift in the same ranking.
Table 2. Highest electronic-bullying point estimates among 31 reporting states and the District of Columbia, 2025
Source: Original ordering of CDC Youth Online H24 estimates. “Electronically bullied” covers the previous 12 months and includes texting and social media. Rankings use the source’s unrounded values, so Kentucky and Arkansas share the same displayed percentage but retain different positions. Confidence intervals overlap considerably; these are descriptive orders, not statistically proven differences.
What Can the Surveys Tell Us When Taken Together?
These two surveys can’t be combined. They ask different questions, of different age groups, in different ways. For example, one surveys parents about general bullying while the other surveys high schoolers directly about online bullying. Don’t subtract one percentage from the other to estimate “online versus offline” harm; the surveys weren’t designed to allow that kind of math. Each number should be read on its own, within its own survey’s context.
What Age Groups Have the Highest Screen Time?
Older teens spend more time on screens than younger teens. Among teens ages 12–14, 45.6% report at least four hours of daily screen time outside of schoolwork. For ages 15–17, that jumps to 55.0% or a difference of 9.4 percentage points. Overall, about half of all teens ages 12–17 (50.4%) report four or more hours daily. These numbers show a clear age pattern: as teens get older, screen time increases.
Supporting national evidence
Source: CDC/NCHS Data Brief 513, published October 2024; National Health Interview Survey–Teen data collected July 2021–December 2023. These groups use one survey and one threshold. The difference between older and younger teens is 9.4 percentage points.
Much of the screen time for older teens is dedicated to various social media sites. In 2025, 36% of high schoolers used social media at least hourly, according to the CDC. Grade 12 students reported 38% hourly-plus use, compared to 33% in Grade 9. It’s a modest difference, but it’s consistent that as teens get older, they’re more likely to report near-constant social media use.
Does Screen Time Point to Increased Risk for Youth?
No, the amount of screen time doesn’t necessarily point to a higher risk for youth. North Dakota and Arkansas make the contrast clear. On the broad vulnerability index, Arkansas ranks 12th with a score of 62.87, while North Dakota ranks lower at 24th with a score of 44.48. But flip to a separate 2025 CDC survey that asks teens directly how often they use social media, and the picture reverses: 83.40% of North Dakota high schoolers report using social media several times a day or more, compared to 67.17% in Arkansas. Frequent use and a high index score don’t always line up.
Does Screen Time Connect to Mental Health?
There is data that supports a possible connection between social media use and mental health. Among teens who report four or more hours of daily screen time, 27.1% describe anxiety symptoms, and 25.9% describe depression symptoms in the past two weeks. For teens under four hours, those numbers drop to 12.3% and 9.5%. The gap is real, but it’s important to be careful here: these numbers show a pattern between screen time and symptoms, but they don’t prove screen time causes anxiety or depression. The vulnerability index, the mental-health association data, and the hourly-use breakdown by grade come from separate CDC surveys. Each answers a different question. Frequency of use (how often teens check social media) is not the same as the vulnerability index (a composite risk score). And neither one proves that screen time causes the mental health symptoms reported alongside it. Each number stands on its own.
Which Platforms See the Most Reported Harassment
Snapchat sees the most reported harassment among social media sites. Pew Research asked teens ages 13 to 17 about their experience on each platform. 27% of Snapchat users said they’d faced at least one type of harassment, compared to 19% on Instagram and 18% on TikTok. The gap shows up across specific types of harassment, too. On Snapchat, 23% of those surveyed were called an offensive name, 18% had rumors spread about them, and 10% were physically threatened. Instagram and TikTok users reported lower rates on all three. Snapchat users reported the most harassment of the three platforms surveyed.
Supporting platform evidence
Source: Pew Research Center, April 15, 2026; survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13–17, September 25–October 9, 2025. Percentages are of teen users of each respective platform, not of all teens. Report, printed page 9
It’s vital to note that surveys can’t speak to all users. Even if a teen doesn’t use Snapchat, it doesn’t mean they aren’t being harassed online.
Does This Impact State Findings?
On the broad vulnerability index, Illinois ranks 33rd (36.65/100), and Arizona ranks 38th (26.01/100). Their inputs: 10.17% and 8.15% regular bullying, plus 17.25% and 16.78% depression. But switch to the 2025 electronic-bullying survey, and both states jump near the top: 18.86% for Illinois, 18.71% for Arizona. Neither source says which app was involved, so these numbers can’t be pinned to a single platform, whether Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok.
Distress, Problematic Use, and Suicide Require Separate Measures
Depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide deaths are separate measures, each from its own survey. None of them, on their own, involves social media at all. However, two long-term studies did look specifically at social media habits and later outcomes. Below, we’ll break down depression rates, instances of suicidal thoughts, and deaths. We’ll also examine the two long-term studies’ findings. In 2023, about 40% of high schoolers reported persistent sadness. By 2025, that number fell to 33%. It’s a real decline—and it sets context for the geographic mortality data that follows.
States With the Highest Depression Rates for Teens
Three states sit at the top of the depression estimates: West Virginia at 20.32%, Maine at 20.31%, and Iowa at 20.30%. Look closely; just hundredths of a percentage point separate them. That’s too small to call meaningful. In plain terms, these three states are essentially tied. Their exact order doesn’t show which state truly has the most depression among teens. Arizona’s depression estimate is 16.78%, which is nearly identical to the national figure of 16.74%. Yet Arizona ranks 38th on the overall vulnerability index, placing it in the middle-to-lower half. This matters: Arizona’s 38th-place rank should not be read as “low depression” or proof that depression declined there. The state’s depression rate is basically average. Its composite score reflects the blend of both bullying and depression inputs, not depression alone.
Suicidal Thoughts Among Surveyed Teens
A separate CDC survey asks high schoolers: Did you seriously consider attempting suicide in the past year? In West Virginia, 19.57% answered yes, compared to the national average of 14.47%. Suicidal ideation does not mean that a person will go on to harm themselves, but it’s still a troubling number. These numbers are snapshots in time. Two long-term studies followed teens and young adults over the years to see what happens when social media use becomes a habit and what outcomes follow.
U.S. Study
A U.S. study called the ABCD cohort followed 4,285 children from ages 9–10 across four years. Researchers tracked their social media habits and looked for links to suicidal behaviors at the four-year mark. Children with an increasing trajectory of addictive social media use had an adjusted risk ratio of 2.14 (95% CI 1.61–2.85), meaning they were about twice as likely to show suicidal behaviors compared to those on a low-use-symptom trajectory. A high-peaking trajectory had an adjusted risk ratio of 2.39 (95% CI 1.66–3.43). It’s important to note that this study measured compulsive, loss-of-control use, not ordinary scrolling. However, this doesn’t mean that typical social media use doubles every child’s risk. The pattern of compulsive use is what mattered.
Swedish Study
A Swedish study followed 3,193 young people over five years into adulthood. Researchers looked for links between heavier social media use and later depression or anxiety. At first, they found an association: heavier use seemed connected to worse mental health. But when they adjusted for other factors that influence mental health, that connection disappeared. It was no longer statistically significant. This finding must be read alongside the U.S. study. Together, they show that the picture is complicated.
Teen Suicide Mortality Rates
Suicide deaths among teens vary sharply by state. Montana has the highest rate at 36.7 deaths per 100,000 teens, followed by Alaska (32.9), Wyoming (30.6), South Dakota (28.6), and New Mexico (22.1). The U.S. average is 10.2 per 100,000. Arizona’s rate is 13.8—above the national average but lower than the top five states. These numbers come from pooled data across 2021–2023, not deaths recorded in 2026. Important: this mortality data is separate from the vulnerability index in Section 1. It’s a different measure, from a different source, and it is not attributed to social media use in the original data. Suicide rates climb higher in young adulthood. The table below shows the 10 states with the highest rates among 18–25-year-olds, based on 2024 CDC mortality records.
More recent young-adult mortality context, separate from the index
Source: KFF State Health Facts analysis of CDC mortality records, 2024. Rates are deaths per 100,000 people ages 18–25. The U.S. rate was 15.7; Arizona’s 24.5 placed ninth among states with reportable rates in this comparison. These are young-adult rates, not a ranking of deaths among children or high-school students. Small populations make some annual rates less stable. Suppressed observations remain missing in the workbook.
Depression prevalence, suicidal ideation, and suicide mortality are three separate measures from three separate data sources. Longitudinal research links addictive and compulsive patterns of social media use to worse mental health outcomes. It does not show that ordinary social media use causes depression or suicide. None of this section’s data should be merged with the state vulnerability index from Section 1. Each measure answers its own question. In the U.S., call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Where Bullying and Depression Overlap With the Meta Agreement’s Funding
In August 2026, Meta agreed to a settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories over its alleged intentionally addictive features. The agreement lists a guaranteed component totaling $11.66 billion across ten installments, with a conditional maximum of up to $16.68 billion for that payment stream. Separate cost and Cambridge-related payments fall outside this total.
Settlement Facts
Each state is guaranteed a different amount from the settlement. These amounts are based on factors like population size and the agreement terms reached with that state’s (or territory’s) attorney general. Arizona’s guaranteed total is $210.53 million, with a conditional maximum of $301.26 million. A maximum is not money already received. Contingent payments can be forfeited if the agreement’s stated conditions aren’t met. Permitted uses for the settlement funds include youth mental-health and crisis services, school and community programs, and certain enforcement costs. The agreement does not earmark every dollar solely for clinical care. It’s important to note that Meta denies the allegations in the case. This settlement is not an admission of liability.
Do Allocated Funds Match the States’ Ranking on the Vulnerability Index?
No, the allocated funds don’t necessarily match the state’s ranking on the vulnerability index. It’s also important to note that because of the composite score, there are nuances in how the index should be interpreted. Kentucky shows why a composite score works differently from a single ranking. Kentucky has the highest regular-bullying estimate of any state: 21.38%. But it ranks only 7th overall on the vulnerability index. Why? Because its major depressive episode estimate, 17.13%, is lower than that of several other states. West Virginia ranks 1st because it combines a high bullying rate with the single highest depression rate. West Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming lead the 50-state vulnerability index. They score highest under a specific, two-part definition: combined rates of regular bullying and major depressive episodes among teens. That’s what earns them the top five spots. It does not mean Meta’s settlement funding is most needed in these states, or that funding should be allocated based on this ranking. The index measures vulnerability, not legal or financial need. The states leading the vulnerability index aren’t necessarily the states where a legal settlement’s funding matters most. Of the five highest-scoring states on the index, the third highest-scoring state (New Hampshire) has the largest guaranteed total among the five highest-scoring states.
Funding comparison for the five highest-scoring states
Source: Original index matched by state to Exhibit B of the filed Meta agreement, PDF pages 109–110. Guaranteed totals equal the listed guaranteed installment multiplied by ten. The conditional maximum is the full-term total shown in the exhibit. Dollar totals are rounded to millions here; exact amounts remain in the workbook. They are not adjusted for the youth population or need and do not establish actual disbursements.
“Guaranteed” means money committed in installments. “Conditional maximum” means the most a state could receive if every condition in the agreement is met. These figures are not adjusted for the youth population or need. They do not reflect money already disbursed. Wyoming receives significantly less than the other four states—a reminder that settlement amounts reflect legal and negotiated factors, not vulnerability rankings alone.
Where Does Arizona Fit?
Arizona illustrates the gap between different measures. On the composite vulnerability index, Arizona ranks 38th. But on the separate 2025 CDC electronic-bullying comparison, Arizona ranks 3rd, among the highest in the nation. Both numbers are real. Both should be reported openly. But the funding conversation must not treat them as equivalent, and it must not elevate Arizona’s composite rank based on its electronic-bullying standing. They answer different questions and come from different surveys. The vulnerability index measures two things: bullying rates and depression rates. It does not measure treatment access, therapist supply, wait times, insurance coverage, public spending on mental health, legal effectiveness, or unmet funding need. A state can rank high on vulnerability and still have robust mental health services, or rank lower and face serious gaps in care. The index shows where bullying and depression are most common. It doesn’t show where help is hardest to find.
Accessibility for Care
Mental Health America reported that 50.80% of U.S. youth ages 12–17 with a major depressive episode received no treatment or counseling for depression. That figure comes from pooled data across 2022–2023 (note that this is an earlier time period than the vulnerability index). It measures a separate outcome: among teens already diagnosed with depression, how many got help? It’s not part of the index itself, but it underscores a significant gap between where depression exists and where teens can access care.
What If Your Family Has Been Affected By Social Media Use?
If your teen has experienced bullying or harassment online or increased depression because of their social media use, keeping a record can help. Save screenshots, messages, and posts. Write down dates and what happened, as clearly as you can remember. A timeline like this can help a family describe events accurately. It’s also worth understanding the difference between a state-level settlement and an individual family’s situation. Settlement funding is distributed by the state under its own negotiated terms—it doesn’t determine whether any specific family qualifies for compensation, and nothing here should be read as a promise about eligibility or case outcomes. Families with questions about their own circumstances should speak with a qualified attorney.
What the Data Shows and What It Doesn’t
The 50-state vulnerability index shows where bullying and depression are relatively more common among teens. West Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming lead that list. But a separate measure, the CDC’s electronic-bullying survey, tells a different story. Missouri, Illinois, and Arizona report the highest rates of bullying that happens specifically online. These two rankings don’t match, and that’s the point: overall vulnerability and online-specific bullying are not the same thing. If your teen was harmed due to online bullying or social media use, a Phoenix personal injury lawyer can help you understand whether you have a case against a social media platform. Finally, if you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. In the U.S., call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also reach out to local mental health services, such as the Arizona Suicide Prevention Coalition.