The US health authorities sounded the alarm after the publication of very disturbing data on high school mental health – and girls in particular – in a report that shows that 22% of teenagers have thought about suicide.

Almost three out of five high school students (57% percent) experienced sadness or despair every day in 2021 for at least two weeks, to the point of interrupting their normal activities, the report said. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) which captures how the psychological state of adolescents has evolved over the past decade.

This figure is twice as high as that of boys, and is also a record for a decade. Only in 2011 36% girls have reported feeling sad or depressed for a long period of time.

Every third girl (30%) seriously thought about committing suicide. This percentage is 14% for boys and 22% for all teenagers in this age group (15-18 years old). In 2011, for girls, this percentage was 19%.

One in five girls (18%) have been sexually abused and more than one in ten (14%) have been forced to have sex.

This data comes from a questionnaire that high school students in the US are asked to complete every two years.

“They show that our teenagers need more support to succeed, hope and thrive,” the agency said in a statement. Debra HureyCDC official.

“Prevention programs in schools have shown that we can throw a lifeline to these rising waves of injury,” he added.

In 2021, almost 70% of LGBTI+ students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or despair, and more than one in five (22%) attempted suicide, according to the report.

The most recent data was collected in the fall of 2021, after most of the schools closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic reopened. Other studies have also shown the pandemic’s devastating impact on teen mental health, but the CDC study highlights that this trend began even before the novel coronavirus emerged.