(LifeSiteNews) — Recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows high percentages of American teenage girls, gender-confused kids, and homosexual youth experienced “persistent hopelessness” and suicidality during the pandemic, indicating a worsening trend in mental health.
The study was published earlier this week and is titled “The Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report.” It examines surveillance data and trends over ten years, between 2011 and 2021, “among high school students in the United States (U.S.) related to adolescent health and well-being.”
“As we saw in the 10 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health among students overall continues to worsen, with more than 40% of high school students feeling so sad or hopeless that they could not engage in their regular activities for at least two weeks during the previous year,” the data summary states. “We also saw significant increases in the percentage of youth who seriously considered suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide.”
Persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness
Specifically, the report outlines that teenage girls and adolescents who self-identified as something other than their biological sex experienced higher rates of mental health issues than their peers. Between 2011 and 2021, the percentage of high schoolers in the U.S. who “experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” “seriously considered attempting suicide,” “made a suicide plan,” and “attempted suicide” increased. The report labels the trend in each of these categories as going “in the wrong direction.”
In 2021, “Nearly 60% of female students and nearly 70% of LGBQ+ students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” the summary states. “10% of female students and more than 20% of LGBQ+ students attempted suicide.”
Additionally, the data shows that “students who had any same-sex partners were more likely than their peers to experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.”
READ: Gender-confused teens committed suicide after receiving trans hormones from researchers
The survey results reveal that a total of 42% of American high school students faced these depressive emotions in 2021. 57% of females experienced these negative emotions as well as 69% of students who identify as “LGBQ+”. Additionally, 50% students who had “sexual contacts” with members of the opposite sex experienced sadness and hopelessness compared to 78% of those who were sexually active with members of the same sex.
“22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year,” the report continues, highlighting that females and “LGBQ+ students and students who had any same sex partners were more likely than their peers to seriously consider” taking their own lives.
Over the years, research has shown that homosexual tendencies and gender confusion are often associated with higher rates of mental health issues.
In 2018, LifeSiteNews reported on a study which found that gender-confused teenagers who choose to “identify” as something other than their biological sex usually struggle with mental health issues and are influenced by pro-LGBT peer groups.
Last year, LifeSiteNews compiled a series of articles outlining the dangers of transgenderism, including hormonal and surgical mutilation in attempting to “change sexes.” Medical associations have spoken out against so-called “gender transition” interventions, such as puberty blockers, and doctors have called the response to youth gender-confusion “child abuse.” Experts have also outlined a clear link between mental illness and LGBT identification.
Attempted suicide
In 2021, 30% of female students seriously considered killing themselves while 45% of gender-confused kids wrestled with the same temptation. Students who had same sex “sexual contacts” seriously considered suicide at a rate of 58%. Similarly, 24% of girls, 37% of “LGBQ+” kids, and 50% of students engaging in same sex intimacy actually made a suicide plan.
The report also states that “10% of high school students attempted suicide one or more times” in 2021. 13% of girls, 22% of gender-confused teenagers, and 33% of kids who had sexual relationships with members of the same sex attempted suicide.
Following the release of the CDC data, prominent conservatives have shared their thoughts on the increasing mental health crisis, particularly among teenage girls.
‘If you want to save our kids, start acting like parents’
“This is what happens when you dissolve all social standards & institutions in the name of atomistic individualism, weaponized by social media, culture & gov’t,” Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro wrote in a Twitter thread. “Social contagion is real, and it has consequences.”
The CDC’s new data says 57% of young women say they were depressed in the last year, & 30% say they considered suicide. This is what happens when you dissolve all social standards & institutions in the name of atomistic individualism, weaponized by social media, culture & gov’t. pic.twitter.com/MrHnfJyDvJ
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 14,
“We’ve incentivized kids to proclaim themselves members of victimized classes—racial, sexual, gender—and then we’re shocked when they are vulnerable and confused and feel victimized. No. The answer is no. If you want to save our kids, start acting like parents and defending the innocence of children. Provide kids with roles, rules, obligations and meaning within an actual value structure.”
READ: Mental illness diagnoses surged among American youth during COVID, researchers find
Live Action’s Lila Rose posted similar sentiments on Tuesday, arguing some of the reasons why female high school students are experiencing increased levels of mental health issues.
“Teen girls are facing record high levels of sadness and depression,” the pro-life activist wrote on Twitter. She added that “addictive comparison, envy, obsessions in social media, lack of identity outside of the superficial, profound confusion about femininity & sex, lack of purpose, [and] disconnection from God & family” are some of the factors which result in the alarming statistics revealed in the data.
Teen girls are facing record high levels of sadness and depression. Why? Some reasons:
-Addictive comparison, envy, obsessions in social media
-Lack of identity outside of the superficial
-Profound confusion about femininity & sex
-Lack of purpose https://t.co/mjnWwuPeuK… https://t.co/LxOAC4GWuP— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) February 14, 2023