Teen girls suffering “unprecedented” level of sadness and violence.

For thirty years the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has conducted the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The 2021 study shows disturbing trends.

“Our teenage girls are suffering through an overwhelming wave of violence and trauma, and it’s affecting their mental health,” says Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health. (NBC Health News)

Nearly 3 in 5 girls said the feel “persistently sad or hopeless,” the highest rate in ten years. 30 % said they have seriously considered attempting suicide.

One in five girls has experienced sexual violence, according to the YRBS.

While girls suffer mental disorders and harm in many categories at a greater rate, “(The) collapse in mental health has hit both sexes, and in many measures, boys and girls are up by roughly similar percentages.” It is a crisis that came on suddenly in the early 2010s, characterized by large increases in mental illness, and is international in scope. (Jonathan Haidt, “Teen mental health is plummeting, and social media is a major cause. “Testimony to Senate Judiciary Committee, May 4, 2022)

When asked why they think youth mental Health is getting worse, young people say that the number one cause is social media. (“Australian teens believe that social media is the main reason that youth mental health is getting worse, Headspace National Youth Mental Health Survey (2018), cited in Haidt, “Teen Mental Health…(2022).