Almost three in five U.S. teen girls reported feeling sad or hopeless in 2021, the highest level seen in a decade and nearly twice the rate among teenage boys.
Rates of reported sexual violence and suicide risk rose among teen girls during the same year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey. At least one in 10 high school girls said they have at some point been forced to have sex, a 27% rise since a survey two years earlier and the first increase since the CDC began recording the measure in 2001. Nearly a third of girls said they seriously considered attempting suicide, up 60% since 2011.
