MENTAL HEALTH
Pay More Attention to the Girls
Teen girls more hopeless, suicidal than teen boys, survey found
Recently, my news feed has included a steady stream about teen girls, feted as “social media influencers,” who committed suicide. Even more unnerving than the loss of a young life is the lack of shock or outrage in the reporting, as if the deaths are as routine as those of elderly celebrities.
It made more sense after a new federal survey reported a dramatic increase in depression and despair among teen girls — much more than with boys.
The Youth Behavior Risk survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, in 2021, 57 percent of high-school girls reported experiencing “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year.” That’s up from 36 percent in 2011. And it’s nearly twice as high as the 29 percent of males who reported having those feelings.
The survey was done during the pandemic, which stressed out even adults. But reports of self-harm and suicidal thoughts among teens had risen years before then. And Women’s History Month is an appropriate time to focus on how girls are faring.
The mental health of boys has always attracted attention because their depression, bullying and hopelessness often…
