New Public Health Advisory on Teen Mental Health. NewsWire

NewsWire: 1/18/22

• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has issued a public health advisory on the mental health challenges facing young people. Murthy cites rising rates of depression, anxiety, and stress, which have all been exacerbated by the pandemic. (Los Angeles Times)
• NH: Since the pandemic began, we have written several NewsWires on alarming indicators of teenagers’ worsening mental health. (See “Soaring Youth Demand for Mental Health Care” and “Surge in Teen Suicides?”) Now, these rising indicators are getting national attention. 
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has released a public health advisory on youth mental illness. The report cites the numerous studies we have covered and estimates that 25% of today's teenagers suffer from depression symptoms.
• Why are teen depression indicators rising? The advisory offers numerous hypotheses. One theory, vigorously defended by San Diego State psychology professor Jean Twenge, points to the rise of social media and mobile phones. Others blame recent social stressors like the lousy economy, racial unrest, and the pandemic lockdown.
• The report also suggests the possibility that the rise is artificial. Perhaps kids today are more likely to talk about their feelings than previous generations. This is probably the most critical question to answer. And one way to look at this is through suicide rates since these aren't much influenced by perceptions. 
• The CDC has just released new data on 2020 suicides by age bracket. According to the provisional numbers, the suicide rate slightly increased in 2020 over 2019 for 10- to 14-year-olds and 15- to 24-year-olds. But these increases were not deemed statistically significant. Even the Surgeon General admits "early evidence does not show significant increases."
• This suggests mental distress among youth, at least by this bottom-line measure, hasn't drastically changed much since the beginning of 2020. On the other hand, there was indeed a significant increase in youth suicides from 2007 to 2017. These were late-wave Millennials, who hit adolescence in the wake of the GFC. And we can definitively say their mental health has worsened relative to earlier-born Millennials at the same age.
• Following their recent rebound, youth suicide rates today are slightly higher than they were in the early 1990s--when late-wave Gen Xers filled this age bracket during the Kurt Cobain grunge rock era.

• The health advisory does offer several suggestions for dealing with the problem. These recommendations include: hiring more school councilors, further research into the effects of social media, and increased mental health screenings by pediatricians.