Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, CDC Finds

Nearly three in five teenage girls felt persistent sadness in 2021, double the rate of boys, and one in three girls seriously considered attempting suicide, according to data released on February 13, 2023, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings, based on surveys given to teenagers across the country, also showed high levels of violence, depression and suicidal thoughts among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. More than one in five of these students reported attempting suicide in the year before the survey, the agency found.

The rates of sadness are the highest reported in a decade, reflecting a long-brewing national tragedy only made worse by the isolation and stress of the pandemic.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was given to 17,000 adolescents at high schools across the United States in the fall of 2021. The survey is conducted every two years, and the rates of mental health problems have gone up with every report since 2011.

On a handful of topics, the survey results suggested teenagers were doing better than in previous years. They reported lower rates of illicit drug use and bullying at school, for example. And teenagers are having less sex, with fewer sexual partners, than in previous years.

But 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 previous year. And 14 percent of girls, up from 12 percent in 2011, said they had been forced to have sex at some point in their lives, as did 20 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual adolescents.

The researchers also analyzed the data by race and ethnicity, finding that Black and Hispanic students were more likely to report skipping school because of concerns about violence. White students, however, were more likely to report experiencing sexual violence.

The increase in sadness and hopelessness was reported across all racial groups over the last decade. Though Black students were less likely to report these negative feelings than other groups, they were more likely to report suicide attempts than white, Asian or Hispanic adolescents.

More girls than boys reported being cyber-bullied, according to the CDC report, which found one in five girls said they had been the target of electronic bullying, almost double the 11 percent of boys.

The CDC’s report also noted, however, that the number of adolescents who reported needing medical attention for a serious suicide attempt had been fairly low and stable, hovering around 2 or 3 percent, since 2011.

The CDC survey follows another bleak report released by the agency last week showing that suicide rates were up among younger Americans and people of color after a two-year decline.

The CDC report stressed that healthy relationships at school can improve adolescents’ mental health.

Excerpted from “Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, CDC Finds” in The New York Times. Read the full article online. Download a PDF of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data and Trends Rep0rt.

Source: New York Times | Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, CDC Finds, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/health/teen-girls-sadness-suicide-violence.html | © 2023 The New York Times Company

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