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The ongoingyouth mental health crisis refers to the significant rise inmental health challenges amongadolescents andyoung adults in the US,[1] Canada,[2] the UK,[3] and Europe.[4] The trend began in the early 2010s and escalated during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[5] Research from the early 2010’s also showed rates of anxiety and depression rising even before the pandemic. Notable issues include increasing rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide. Girls are particularly vulnerable.[6][7]
In October 2021, theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), and theChildren's Hospital Association (CHA) jointly declared a "national emergency in child and adolescent mental health."[8] Two months later,U.S. Surgeon GeneralVivek H. Murthy published a rare public health advisory, sounding alarm at a "devastating" decline in mental health faced by young people in America.[9] According to the report, while theCOVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend, the sharp drop in youth mental health had already begun ten years prior.[5]
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Between 2014 and 2024, the suicide rate for young Americans aged 10-24 years has risen by 56%, with Black youth experiencing a particularly sharp rise of 78%.[10] Among adolescents aged 10-14, the suicide rate surged by 167% for girls and 91% for boys between 2010 and 2020.[11] Other signs of mental health distress, such as self-harm episodes, major depressive episodes, anxiety, have also shown similar growth.[6][11] A 2022 CDC study also reported that over 40% of high schoolers had stronger feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
A 2021 report by the U.S. Surgeon General suggested that "messages through the media and popular culture that erode [adolescents'] sense of self-worth" may be responsible.[5] Similarly, in a 2023 statement, theEuropean Economic and Social Committee (EESC) recognised the risks of "excessive use of social media", but also called attention to social and political malaise, as well as anxieties over climate change.[12]
The 2024 best-selling bookThe Anxious Generation by American social psychologistJonathan Haidt, argued that the rise of "phone-based" childhood and overprotective parenting has disrupted social and neurological development of adolescents. The book highlighted several negative factors, including social anxiety, attention fragmentation, sleep deprivation, and addiction.[13] Others have disputed Haidt's theory.[14]
A survey conducted byPolitico in April 2024, involving 1,400 medical and mental health professions, identified the following factors as the primary drivers of mental health issues in children: social media (cited by 28% respondents), external events such as school shootings, climate change, war, and political instability (14%), social isolation (13%), and lack of skills to be more independent (12%).[15]
David Wallace-Wells ofThe New York Times suggested that the spike may at least partly be attributed to "changing methods of measuring and addressing mental health and mental illness."[16]