In a front-page feature story, the New York Times (4/24, A1, Richtel, Flanagan) reports that American adolescents are facing a new public health threat, that is, “soaring rates of mental health disorders.” For example, in 2019, 13 percent of adolescent Americans “reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007.” Additionally, “emergency room visits by children and adolescents in that period also rose sharply for anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm.” Further, suicide rates for people ages 10 to 24, “stable from 2000 to 2007, leaped nearly 60 percent by 2018,” according to the CDC.
NPR (4/24, Rascoe, Narro) interviews Kathleen Ethier, PhD, who “leads the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which this month published a survey” indicating “the extent to which the pandemic has been incredibly disruptive for young people and their families.”
Related Links:
— “‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens ” Matt Richtel, The New York Times, April 24, 2022