America is in the midst of a teen mental health crisis, according to official data suggesting a staggering number of children are suicidal.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that in 2021, 10.2 percent of U.S. high school students said they had attempted suicide in the past 12 months, up from about 8 percent in 2019
The CDC also found that 30 percent of high school students also said they had poor mental health “most of the time.” For girls, the figure was even higher: 40 percent.
The survey also found that one in three high school students are drug users, with one in six regularly using marijuana, one in four drinking alcohol and one in 16 using opioids.
Meanwhile, the report found that nearly one in 30 college students regularly walks around with a gun — at a time when school shootings are on the rise and firearms are now the leading killer of American children.
The CDC found that one in 10 U.S. high school students will attempt suicide by 2021, up from 8.9 percent a year earlier. Women were hit hardest: 13.3 percent attempted suicide that year
Nearly one-third of all American high school students report suffering from poor mental health. It is because some of the country’s leaders say that the country is going through a youth crisis. Women suffered the most, with 40 percent reporting poor mental health that year
The state of the youth mental health crisis in the country was exposed in the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, conducted in 2021.
The data was collected at the height of the Covid pandemic, which the CDC says may have biased the findings.
Lockdowns, school closures and fear of the virus caused psychological crises for many teens and an increase in depression and anxiety.
Researchers also found a striking increase in children reporting mental health problems, especially among lesbian, gay and bisexual college students.
The nationally representative study included data from 17,232 children at 152 schools in 45 U.S. states.
Teenagers were anonymously surveyed on many factors from their mental health, sexual identity and whether they were using or carrying drugs weapons.
Students were asked if they had had suicidal thoughts and other bad psychological symptoms in the past 12 months.
The number of high school students who have considered — but not attempted — suicide in the past 12 years will be 22.2 percent in 2021, compared to 18.8 in 2019, the last time the survey was conducted.
This includes 30 percent of women in the age group, up from 24.1 percent two years earlier.
Researchers found that 29.3 percent of U.S. high school students said their mental health was regularly poor in the past year, including 40.8 percent of female college students.
At the same time, a record number of children are depressed and drug use is also high.
If they had used a substance in the past 30 days, the CDC would consider them a current user.
About 30 percent of the children admitted to having currently abused a substance.
The most common was alcohol, which 22 percent of students reported drinking.
About half of that group, or 10 percent of college students overall, had engaged in binge drinking in the past month, the CDC found.
For a man, binge drinking is defined as drinking five or more alcoholic beverages on one occasion. For women, it is four or more.
A single drink is considered 12 oz of beer – the size of a standard can – or 5 oz of wine – which is usually considered the standard in a wine glass.
About 16 percent of college students currently use marijuana as the drug becomes more common in many parts of the country.
Recent studies have linked the use of the drug to poor mental health, particularly among young people.
Six percent currently abuse opioids such as OxyContin and Percocet. The CDC didn’t ask how they got the drugs, just whether they were being abused.
In some cases, a teen received a prescription from a doctor and then gave the drugs to friends or used herself in a way that went against the doctor’s orders.
However, rates of drug abuse are declining across the board.
Current alcohol abuse decreased by 20 percent in 2019 compared to 29.2 percent of teens.
The number of children using marijuana over a 30-day period is down 27 percent from 21.7 percent in the latest study.
Nearly half of all high school students in the US have tried alcohol, while more than one in four have ever used marijuana. About one in ten has abused opiates or inhalants in their lifetime. These rates have fallen in recent years
One in 30 children regularly walks around with a gun. These students are more likely to be 18 and more likely to drink, use marijuana, abuse prescriptions or other drugs
These declines began as far back as 2009, when nearly half of high school students consumed alcohol.
“This report documents that the prevalence of substance use among US high school students had been declining for a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic,” the CDC wrote.
The CDC also collected data on lifetime use of popular drugs. They found that nearly half of teens had ever consumed alcohol and one in four had used marijuana.
About one in ten had ever abused an inhalant or prescribed opioids.
Students were also asked if they were current users of multiple drugs, had ever used the substances, or if they engaged in risky behaviors such as carrying a weapon or abusing alcohol.
Researchers also found that 3.5 percent of students regularly carry a gun. They are almost twice as likely to be black, Hispanic or Native American.
The disturbing data comes as scientists warn that firearms are now the leading killer of American children, according to a shocking study from the University of Michigan last year.
Students who regularly carry guns are also more likely to abuse drugs and suffer from serious mental health problems.
Researchers found that they are four times more likely to abuse drugs than their peers.
This includes a 4-fold jump in alcohol and prescription drug abuse, and a 3.5-fold increase in marijuana use.
These are all new questions in the research. This means that while no historical data is available, researchers are now concerned enough to keep track of these statistics.