“Young People Are Telling Us That They Are in Crisis” – Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness
The CDC conducted the Youth Risk Behavior Survey among 17,000 adolescents at high schools across the United States in the fall of 2021.
According to The New York Times, the CDC has now released data from 2011-2021, and the trends are alarming:
- Almost three in five teen girls felt persistent sadness in 2021, double the rate of boys
- The rates of sadness are the highest rates of the kind in a decade
- One in three girls seriously considered a suicide attempt
- There are high levels of violence, depression, and suicidal thoughts among LGBQ+ youth – more than one in five reported a suicide attempt during the year prior to the survey
What does it all mean? “I think there’s really no question what this data is telling us,” said Dr. Kathleen Ethier, head of CDC’s adolescent and school health program. “Young people are telling us that they are in crisis.”
The CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey is conducted every two years, and the rates of mental health problems have risen with every report since 2011.
“There was a mental health crisis before the pandemic — it just didn’t catch everyone’s attention the way it does now,” said Dr. Cori Green, the director of behavioral health education and integration in pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine in NYC. The pandemic merely exacerbated an existing, but hidden, chasm of need. However, “the pandemic led to more social isolation — a risk factor for depression,” she added.
Teen girls and LGBQ+ youth are particularly suffering
The trends in sadness among teen girls and LGBQ+ teenagers are truly alarming:
- About 57 percent of girls and 69 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual teenagers reported feeling sadness every day for at least two weeks during the year prior
- 14 percent of girls, up from 12 percent in 2011, said they had been forced to have sex at some point in their lives
- 20 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual adolescents said they had been forced into sex
“When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys,” said the CDC’s Dr. Ethier. Research needs to focus on the cause of that violence, she urged, and not merely how frequently it’s reported. “We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.”
When they analyzed the data by race and ethnicity, researchers discovered that Black and Hispanic students were more likely to skip school due to concerns of violence, but White students were more likely to report experiencing sexual violence.
The rise in sadness was a constant across all racial demographics in the last decade. Although less likely to report feelings of sadness than their white, Asian or Hispanic peers, Black students were more likely to report a suicide attempt.
While the 2021 survey asked about students’ sexual orientation, it did not ask about their gender identity, so data on risk factors for transgender students is not in this report.
An association between the rise of social media and teen depression
Dr. Victor Fornari, the vice chair of child and adolescent psychiatry for New York’s largest health system, Northwell Health, pointed out that the drop in teen well-being coincided with the rise of smartphones. Although the full impact of technology on teen mental health is still unknown, he asserted that there is “no question” of an association between the use of social media and the dramatic increase in suicidal behavior and depressive mood.
“Kids are now vulnerable to cyberbullying and critical comments, like ‘I hate you’, ‘Nobody likes you,’” he noted. “It’s like harpoons to their heart every time.”
Girls reported being the target of cyber-bullying at nearly double the rate of boys (11%).
A startling rise in suicidality
Over the past few decades, the rise in suicidality in young people is truly alarming. Dr. Fornari added that the number of tweens or teens coming to the emergency room at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where he practices, for suicidal thoughts or attempts has risen dramatically. According to The New York Times article: “In 1982, there were 250 emergency room visits by suicidal adolescents. By 2010, the number had increased to 3,000. By 2022, it was 8,000.”
Unfortunately, the mental health crisis exists amidst a distinct shortage of mental health providers. “We don’t have enough therapists to care for all these kids,” Dr. Fornari said.
Thankfully, the number of teens requiring hospitalization for a serious suicide attempt has remained low and relatively flat in the last decade, hovering around 2 or 3 percent.
“Lots of people think about taking their life. Most of them will not act on it,” said Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). The goal is not to “panic people” with these figures, but to inform and to change behavior, she added. “We want people to start having these conversations, checking in, and then making a plan to help each other.”
Connection at school is a protective factor
Is there a silver lining in this report? Yes, the CDC report stressed that healthy school relationships can improve mental health in adolescents. Feeling seen, known, and accepted at school can work wonders.
“Young people who feel connected in middle school and high school 20 years later have better mental health, are less likely to be perpetrators or victims of violence, are less likely to use substances and are less likely to attempt suicide,” Dr. Ethier said. “So school connectedness is a very powerful protective factor.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
Read the full article here.
Learn more about the CDC report or read the full Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report, 2011-2021.
Ghorayashi, Azeen and Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, C.D.C. Finds.” The New York Times, 13 Feb 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/health/teen-girls-sadness-suicide-violence.html.