A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revealed that teen’s mental health in America is struggling. The report titled, The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, polled over 17,000 U.S. high school students and asked them questions about their own mental health and happiness.
The results showed that 57 percent of girls felt “persistently sad or helpless,” which marks the highest rate in over a decade. While 30 percent of girls reported that they have seriously considered suicide. The report also shows that sexual violence has risen amongst teen girls. With roughly one in five teens reporting that they have experienced sexual violence, and 14 percent reporting that they have been forced to have sex at some point.
The survey also reported that alcohol consumption is still declining in teens. In the survey, 23 percent of students said they drank alcohol, compared to 39 percent in 2011. While 16 percent have reported they currently use marijuana, compared to 23 percent in 2011. Only 12 percent admitted to ever misusing prescription opioids, which is down from 14 percent in 2019 and 2017.
Tish Frederick, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Beautiful As You Are, a nonprofit organization that gives a safe place to girls who never felt they fit in and are looked at as being different stated about the findings, “So it broke my heart, but I wasn’t shocked by it, So at school, you have pressure. We know that’s going to be there. You have sports, but then you come home in your safe, and there’s more added pressure. And I just think, all of that together, the kids can’t handle it. They can’t take it.”
B.A.Y.A. also gives a safe place for girls to talk in fun, interactive, self-esteem-building activities. Frederick started the organization because of her daughter saying, “[I did it for] my daughter, So she is 22 now and she was bullied relentlessly growing up, and she was a self-harmer, and she tried to take her own life. And so everyone’s answer to me was, ‘medicate her, she’ll be fine.’ But I knew there had to be a better way.”
Frederick concluded in saying that, “Broken, whole, you’re still a beautiful being and a beautiful person.” In order to learn more about B.A.Y.A, visit their website or visit them in person on Eat Lewis and Clark Parkway in Clarksville, Indiana.
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