A rising share of teenage women thought-about and tried suicide in 2021 as their psychological well being deteriorated throughout the second yr of COVID-19 restrictions, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention reported.
Amongst highschool women responding to the CDC’s newest Youth Threat Habits Survey, 30% mentioned they severely thought-about trying suicide in 2021, up from 24.1% in 2019. The share of women in grades 9-12 who made a suicide plan rose from 19.9% to 23.6% and the share who tried to take their very own lives rose from 11% to 13.3% over the identical interval.
By comparability, psychological well being consultants have reported that teen women had been extra seemingly to make use of social media as a coping mechanism throughout the pandemic. That left them feeling worse as they in contrast themselves to the best lives of others on-line or consumed movies passively, with out interacting with others on-line.
The CDC attributed the rise in suicidal tendencies amongst teen women to social isolation and a lack of feeling of “connectedness” with college friends throughout pandemic lockdowns. After closing their campuses in March 2020, most excessive faculties prolonged digital and hybrid studying preparations all through 2020 and 2021.
“College connectedness was additionally related to a decrease prevalence of lifetime marijuana use general, throughout intercourse and grade ranges, and amongst White and heterosexual college students,” the CDC mentioned Friday in a abstract of the findings.
Suicide charges amongst teenage boys remained unchanged from earlier than to after the pandemic, the survey discovered.
Psychological well being consultants have speculated that teen boys felt extra socially related than women throughout pandemic lockdowns as a result of their greater tendency to play on-line video video games that includes chat bins with their pals.
The CDC surveys youngsters each two years on questions on matters reminiscent of sexual exercise, substance use and psychological well being. The newest nationwide survey polled 13,677 college students in 2019 and 17,232 college students in 2021.
This yr’s survey discovered that college students who felt much less socially related throughout the pandemic had been extra more likely to expertise “poor psychological well being, marijuana use, prescription opioid misuse, sexual activity, unprotected intercourse, experiencing compelled intercourse, and lacking college due to feeling unsafe.”
Different findings within the survey included:
*24% of teenagers recognized as non-heterosexual in 2021, up from 11% in 2019.
*Among the many 5.2% of teenagers who mentioned they had been “questioning” or uncertain about their sexual identification, three out of each 4 reported a historical past of being abused.
*The share of teenagers who mentioned they by no means had intercourse dropped from 38% in 2019 to 30% in 2021.
*10.2% of highschool college students mentioned they tried to kill themselves within the earlier 12 months, in comparison with about 8% in 2019.
*30% of 14-18-year-old college students mentioned that they had poor psychological well being “more often than not” in 2021. For ladies, it was 40%.
*Round 30% of excessive schoolers abused substances frequently in 2021, with one in six utilizing marijuana and one in 16 utilizing opioids.
*22% of scholars drank alcohol frequently in 2021; about half that quantity had been binge drinkers who consumed a number of grownup drinks in a single sitting.
*Practically one in 30 college students mentioned in 2021 that they frequently walked round with a gun.
