The mental health of American adolescents has deteriorated with the Covid-19 pandemic, due to isolation and increased dependence on the Internet, according to a study released by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study was conducted among 17,000 high school students in the United States, at the end of 2021, and reveals that almost 60% of girls admitted to having felt hopelessness and prolonged sadness, 30% considered suicide and 20% reported having been a victim of violence or sexual abuse in the previous year.
More than half of the LGBTQ students said they had also seriously considered suicide.
In thirty years of data collection, “we have never seen such devastating results before. (…) There is no question that young people tell us they are in trouble. This data draws our attention to the fact that action is needed” . said Kathleen Ethier of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quoted by the Associated Press.
According to the study, the feeling of hopelessness and sadness affected more than a third of the adolescents surveyed, regardless of ethnicity, which represents an increase compared to previous years.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States recalls that the diagnosis obtained had already been identified in studies prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the problems were aggravated by isolation, distance classes and greater dependence on media and social networks.
The results “reflect many decades of neglect in the face of mental health issues, particularly for young people,” said Mitch Prinstein of the American Psychological Association, noting that isolation resulting from the pandemic has exacerbated depression and anxiety. among the young. .
For the head of that association, reforms are needed in the way in which society conceives mental health: “In schools, children must be taught ways to manage stress and conflicts, just as they are taught about physical exercise as a form of disease prevention.
Source: TSF
