Many teens report abuse in lockdown

NEW YORK >> New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on adolescents’ mental health during the coronavirus pandemic suggests that for many teenagers who were ordered to stay at home, home was not always a safe place.

A nationwide survey of 7,705 high school students conducted in the first half of 2021 built on earlier findings of high levels of emotional distress, with 44.2% describing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness that prevented them from participating in normal activities, and 9% reporting an attempt at suicide.

It also found high rates of reported abuse, with 55.1% of teenage respondents saying they suffered emotional abuse from a parent or another adult in their house in the preceding year, and 11.3% saying they suffered physical abuse.

In the survey, emotional abuse was defined as swearing, insulting or belittling; physical abuse was defined as hitting, beating, kicking or physically hurting.

Research conducted before the pandemic, in 2013, showed that self-reports of parental abuse were substantially lower, with 13.9% of respondents ages 14-17 reporting emotional abuse during the preceding year and 5.5% reporting physical abuse. Abuse was only one of the stressors that teenagers reported at home, according to the new study; 29% of those interviewed in the survey reported that a parent or another adult in the home lost a job, and 24% said that they had had hunger.

The data underscores the protective role that schools can play in the lives of young people, especially those grappling with racism or gender identity, said Kathleen Ethier, who heads the adolescent and school health program at the CDC.

“Schools provide a way of identifying and addressing youth who may be experiencing abuse in the home,” she said, calling the reported rise in physical abuse “beyond worrisome” and the rise in suicidal behavior “hugely significant.”

“These data really confirm that we are in a severe crisis in terms of mental health among young people, particularly among female students and students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual,” she said.

Researchers and clinicians have expressed alarm about a sharp decline in the mental health of young people during the pandemic, which was described as “devastating” in a rare public advisory from the U.S. surgeon general. means a significant portion of our young people are telling us they don’t want to live right now.”

The rise in suicidal behavior during lockdown is especially pronounced among young women and students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Researchers worry “about those youth being separated from school and being home with families who may not be supportive of their sexual identify or sex orientation or gender identity,” Ethier said.