Do you think adolescents are experiencing a mental health crisis?
If you were to conduct a poll about mental health at your school or among teenagers in your community, what do you think you would find?
Do you have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness? Do you often exhibit irritability or aggression? Would some or many of your friends and classmates say they do? Judging by what you’ve experienced and observed, do you think there is a mental health crisis among teenagers right now?
In “Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, C.D.C. Finds,” Azeen Ghorayshi and Roni Caryn Rabin write, “Adolescent girls reported high rates of sadness, suicidal thoughts and sexual violence, as did teenagers who identified as gay or bisexual.” The article begins:
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 Monday 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.
“I think there’s really no question what this data is telling us,” said Dr. Kathleen Ethier, head of the C.D.C.’s adolescent and school health program. “Young people are telling us that they are in crisis.” 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, Dr. Ethier said.
“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 New York City.
Still, Dr. Green said that she is seeing more of her young patients test positive on screenings for depression. “The pandemic led to more social isolation — a risk factor for depression,” she said. She also pointed out that depression symptoms sometimes manifest differently in boys and girls, which might not be fully reflected in the survey. Although girls with depression often have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, which the survey asked about, boys with depression often exhibit irritability or aggression, she said. The report also investigated certain behaviors and looked at the data from groups of teenagers based on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, but not on gender identity: 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. “When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys,” said Dr. Ethier of the C.D.C. Researchers should be studying not only the increase in reports of violence, she said, but its causes: “We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.” 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.
The 2021 survey asked about students’ sexual orientation but did not ask about their gender identity, so data on risk factors for transgender students is not available.
My students, read the entire article, then tell me: What is your reaction to the C.D.C. report? What in it stands out to you? Why? Does anything surprise you? Does anything not surprise you? How closely does the study reflect the experiences of you and your peers? What, if anything, do you think is missing?
The study was conducted about a year and a half ago in 2021. If a new study were to be conducted today, how do you think the findings would compare? Do you think teenage mental health has gotten better or worse, or stayed the same, since then? Why do you say that?
The article suggests two major factors that might be contributing to the decline in mental health among teenagers: the pandemic, which led to more social isolation, and the use of social media. Do these factors ring true for you? What do you think might be contributing to teenagers’ sadness?
Dr. Ethier of the C.D.C. said that researchers should be studying not only the increase in reports of violence, but its causes: “When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys. We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.” What is your reaction to this statement? Do you have any ideas?
What have you learned about mental health — from teachers, family members, counselors, doctors, your peers or anyone else? How has it helped you?
The C.D.C. report stressed that healthy relationships at school could improve adolescents’ mental health. Do you have strong relationships with students, teachers and other staff at your school? What do you think schools could do to help grow these kinds of relationships?
Do you have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness? Do you often exhibit irritability or aggression? Would some or many of your friends and classmates say they do? Judging by what you’ve experienced and observed, do you think there is a mental health crisis among teenagers right now?
In “Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, C.D.C. Finds,” Azeen Ghorayshi and Roni Caryn Rabin write, “Adolescent girls reported high rates of sadness, suicidal thoughts and sexual violence, as did teenagers who identified as gay or bisexual.” The article begins:
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 Monday 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.
“I think there’s really no question what this data is telling us,” said Dr. Kathleen Ethier, head of the C.D.C.’s adolescent and school health program. “Young people are telling us that they are in crisis.” 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, Dr. Ethier said.
“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 New York City.
Still, Dr. Green said that she is seeing more of her young patients test positive on screenings for depression. “The pandemic led to more social isolation — a risk factor for depression,” she said. She also pointed out that depression symptoms sometimes manifest differently in boys and girls, which might not be fully reflected in the survey. Although girls with depression often have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, which the survey asked about, boys with depression often exhibit irritability or aggression, she said. The report also investigated certain behaviors and looked at the data from groups of teenagers based on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, but not on gender identity: 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. “When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys,” said Dr. Ethier of the C.D.C. Researchers should be studying not only the increase in reports of violence, she said, but its causes: “We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.” 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.
The 2021 survey asked about students’ sexual orientation but did not ask about their gender identity, so data on risk factors for transgender students is not available.
My students, read the entire article, then tell me: What is your reaction to the C.D.C. report? What in it stands out to you? Why? Does anything surprise you? Does anything not surprise you? How closely does the study reflect the experiences of you and your peers? What, if anything, do you think is missing?
The study was conducted about a year and a half ago in 2021. If a new study were to be conducted today, how do you think the findings would compare? Do you think teenage mental health has gotten better or worse, or stayed the same, since then? Why do you say that?
The article suggests two major factors that might be contributing to the decline in mental health among teenagers: the pandemic, which led to more social isolation, and the use of social media. Do these factors ring true for you? What do you think might be contributing to teenagers’ sadness?
Dr. Ethier of the C.D.C. said that researchers should be studying not only the increase in reports of violence, but its causes: “When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys. We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.” What is your reaction to this statement? Do you have any ideas?
What have you learned about mental health — from teachers, family members, counselors, doctors, your peers or anyone else? How has it helped you?
The C.D.C. report stressed that healthy relationships at school could improve adolescents’ mental health. Do you have strong relationships with students, teachers and other staff at your school? What do you think schools could do to help grow these kinds of relationships?
