(NewsNation) — It’s a crisis that doctors say needs much more attention: mental health in teens and young adults.
A new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly one in three high school girls seriously considered suicide over the past year. That number is up nearly 60% from a decade ago.
Nearly five of every eight high school girls had feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness. It’s nearly double the ratio of boys who had the same feelings.
Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson said this rising trend of teens having suicidal thoughts is a “wake-up call.”
“To put it in perspective, our girls are going through this, boys are going through this, and children who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are going through it even more,” Swanson said. “So this trend that we’re seeing is a wake-up call, even though we knew the alarm bell was ringing even before the pandemic began.”
Overall, 22% of high school students surveyed in 2021 said they seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year, with 14% of male high school students reporting that they had seriously considered it.
“As we saw in the 10 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health among students overall continues to worsen, with more than 40% of high school students feeling so sad or hopeless that they could not engage in their regular activities for at least two weeks during the previous year — a possible indication of the experience of depressive symptoms,” the report said. “We also saw significant increases in the percentage of youth who seriously considered suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide.”
According to the survey, nearly 60% of female high school students surveyed in 2021 said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and 25% said they had made a suicide plan.
In 2021, 42% of high school students felt sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row.
LGBQ+ students and students who had same-sex partners were more likely to experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness than others. Hispanic and multiracial students were also more likely than white, Black and Asian students to experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.