The nation's teenagers are dealing with an unprecedented level of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts, according to a Centers for Disease Control report released this month. The responses, which were collected in the fall of 2021 for the CDC's bi-annual "Youth Risk Behavior Survey," found a "overwhelming wave of violence and trauma" among U.S. teens.
The director of the CDC's division of adolescent and school health said at a media briefing that the findings were alarming. Girls felt persistently sad or hopeless at double the rate of teen boys. Nearly one in three teen girls seriously considered attempting suicide. And 52% of LGBTQ plus students said they recently experienced poor mental health, with one in five having attempted suicide in the past year.
These troubling results come at the same time that a new book by a local and national expert in adolescents may have urgently needed insights into this generation. Clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour's new book, "The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable and Compassionate Adolescents," serves as a guide to parents, but it can also give those without children more insight into teens' everyday challenges.
Dr. Lisa Damour, who also co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, writes about adolescents for the New York Times, and serves as a senior advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University, joins Monday's "Sound of Ideas."
Guests:
-Lisa Damour, PhD, Clinical Psychologist & Author, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents
