(KERO) — A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study said teen girls are experiencing record-high levels of sadness, suicide, and violence.
According to the new data, nearly three in five American teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021. That is the highest level in the past decade, and it's double that of teen boys.
In fact, girls fared worse than boys across nearly all measures.
“All of the kind of issues that can come with social media and comparing themselves to someone or to a standard that is not necessarily even real or realistic with all of the technology that we have, with filters and so on and so forth," explained Liz Bailey, a Behavioral Health Supervisor for Kern Behavioral Health and Recover Services' Children's Outpatient Team. "So we definitely do work with a number of teenage girls on that specifically.”
Bailey said social media impacts self-image and social skills, especially after the isolation caused by the pandemic.
“Specifically with depressive symptoms, one of the things that we know is that having those human connections can help reduce some of that symptomatology," said Bailey. "So I do think just sort of the fast pace of everything today along with social media, along with the ability to really not see people face to face if you don't have to, it has had an impact.”
The CDC also found that nearly one in three teen girls seriously considered attempting suicide, one in five girls experienced sexual violence in the past year, and one in ten girls had ever been forced to have sex. The amount of girls experiencing sexual violence has gone up 20% since 2017, and the number of girls being forced to have sex has gone up 27% since 2019.
Bailey said spending quality time together helps build a healthy relationship between parents and their children. That means the kids are more comfortable and more likely to come forward if something is wrong.
“Getting to know who their kids’ friends are, who is it that they're spending time with, what are [their] child's interests," she said. "There are many different apps and things that parents can do to have some type of parental control on their child's phone.”
23ABC News reached out to the Kern High School District (KHSD), which shared several resources available for teens with mental health issues.
The KHSD said each of their sites has access to school psychologists, school social workers, school counselors, and school mental health clinicians. All of these mental health professionals work with the students, families, staff, and interagency partners.
Parents and guardians can contact their school sites directly for more information.
Bailey also said to always remember that anyone can get immediate help during a crisis by calling the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988.
So how else can parents, teachers, and friends help girls through this crisis? According to the website TheConversation.com, research shows that multiple strategies can work.
Strategies include putting more of an emphasis on social support and emotional connectivity, which can help mitigate stress and sadness, and supporting one another instead of competing against each other. Other strategies include encouraging girls to value other qualities about themselves besides their appearances, such as their artistic abilities or intelligence, as well as empowering girls to value themselves and their roles, and making them aware of how social media can influence feelings and mental health.
A final suggestion is teaching kids to recognize their feelings, as it can help reduce their anxiety.
