APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Results from a recent CDC report show that teens, especially girls, are struggling with their mental health.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that more and more teenagers are experiencing depression or have been suicidal.
According to new CDC data, 30% of high school girls in the U.S. seriously considered attempting suicide, up nearly 60% from a decade ago.
Lori Hilt, professor of psychology at Lawrence University, says girls experience depression and anxiety at twice the rate of boys.
“There have been some important shifts culturally,” said Hilt. “I think one has been reliance on social media and adolescents. We know, when they’re on social media, they’re doing comparisons. There are filters that are used, and so, they’re seeing unrealistic images of their peers and other people.”
The survey was completed in the fall of 2021, showing exactly how teens felt in the middle of the pandemic.
“Well before the pandemic, we were seeing an increase trajectory of both depression and anxiety among adolescents, and then with the pandemic, we saw even a bigger surge,” said Hilt.
According to the report, 57% of high school girls felt persistent feelings of sadness, an increase from 46% in 2019. And 29% of high school boys felt persistently sad or hopeless, up from 26% in 2019.
“We know that girls are more likely to ruminate than boys, and because that’s a risk factor for anxiety and depression, that might also be explaining this sex difference that we see,” said Hilt.
Adolescent rumination refers to a mindset in which someone can’t get beyond the negative things that are happening around them.
She says that it’s important for parents to be aware of signs.
“If a teen is typically outgoing and suddenly is becoming more withdrawn — if you see changes in grades or behavior with peers — I think that those kinds of changes, it’s worth checking into because we know our teens are struggling right now,” said Hilt.
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