Fewer US teenage girls report ‘persistent sadness’

There’s good news for parents concerned about teens’ mental health: After 57% of U.S. teenage girls surveyed reported feeling “persistent sadness” in 2021, that number dropped slightly to 53% in 2023, new government data shows.

In the latest biennial survey of over 20,000 high school students across the country, the Survey on risk behaviour among young peopleResearchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that levels of despair may be declining during the pandemic, but remain high.

“One of our top priorities at CDC is improving the mental health of Americans,” Doctor Debra Houry“The data released today show improvements in a number of metrics that measure young people’s mental well-being — progress we can build on. But this work is far from over.”

In general, girls tend to persistent sadness more than boys: About 28% of boys surveyed in the 2021 and 2023 surveys said they felt this way.

In other research findings, the risk of suicide among girls did not change between the two surveys. However, a rise in suicide attempts among black students that occurred in 2021 has now slowed significantly.

“These data show that we have made some progress in recent years in addressing these problems, proving that they are not insurmountable. However, there is still much work to be done,” Kathleen Ethierhead of the CDC’s adolescent and school health program, said in an agency news release. “But we’re also seeing some really important glimmers of hope.”

Still, rates of persistent sadness among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender high school students remained disturbingly high, with about 65% reporting feeling this way in the 2023 survey, compared to 31% among their cisgender and heterosexual peers.

The decline in some indicators of mental health problems among teens may be attributable to an increased emphasis on timely diagnosis and treatment in recent years, according to Corinne Catarozolia clinical psychologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. She said pediatricians are increasingly initiating and providing such care when teens come in for checkups.

Speaking to the TimeCatarozoli said she has seen emergency room visits for pediatric psychiatric care at Weill Cornell level off this year.

“This [CDC] “The data we see today is very promising and shows that we are on the right track,” Catarozoli said. But, “there is still a long way to go in terms of access and in terms of insurance coverage.”

In other data on current stressors facing American teens, the 2023 survey found that nearly 2 in 10 female college students reported experiencing sexual violence, while more than 1 in 10 reported being forced into sex.

Violence also affected LGBTQ teens, with nearly 1 in 5 reporting they had skipped school in the past 30 days due to fear of violence. More than 1 in 5 LGBTQ teens also said they had been bullied in the past year, the report found.

But some risks are declining. Risky sexual behavior among teens has declined, with just 6% of teens saying they’ve had four or more sexual partners in their lifetime, compared with 15% in 2013, the survey found.

Drinking rates have also dropped, from 35% of teens saying they drank in 2013 to just 22% a decade later. And while 23% of teens said they used marijuana in 2013, that number had dropped to 17% by 2023.

Among young people, and especially girls, social media use is widespread: by 2023, 82 percent of girls will report using social media regularly, compared to 73 percent of boys.

Racism is still a problem: in 2023, more than a third of teenagers reported experiencing racism at school. Asian students reported the highest percentage, at 57%. Among black students, 46% reported experiencing racism at school.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, free, anonymous help is available 24/7 at 988 Suicide and Crisis Helpline.

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