CDC Report Warns, Teen Girls Facing a Wave , of Sadness and Violence.
On February 14, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported that young women in America
are facing unprecedented levels of hopelessness.
Our teenage girls are suffering
through an overwhelming wave
of violence and trauma, and
it’s affecting their mental health, Kathleen Ethier, Director of the CDC’s Division
of Adolescent and School Health, via NBC.
NBC reports that the results of the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk
Behavior Survey show that a wave of sexual violence and
trauma is impacting the mental health of young women.
According to the CDC report, nearly three in every
five teen girls said that they felt "persistently
sad or hopeless," the highest rate in a decade.
The report also found that 30% of those surveyed
said they have considered suicide, a percentage
which has risen by almost 60% in the last ten years.
As a parent to a teenage girl,
I am heartbroken. As a public
health leader, I’m driven to act, Dr. Debra Houry, CDC’s chief medical officer, via NBC.
It was so striking to us,
the consistency with which girls
were faring more poorly than boys, Kathleen Ethier, Director of the CDC’s Division
of Adolescent and School Health, via NBC.
Julie Cerel, director of the Suicide Prevention & Exposure
Lab at the University of Kentucky, warns that
most schools are ill-equipped due to limited funding.
It's a lot to ask schools with
teachers who are underpaid and
not necessarily trained. What we've
been doing hasn't been working, Julie Cerel, Director of the Suicide Prevention & Exposure
Lab at the University of Kentucky, via NBC