JAMA Pediatrics has published a depressing study that shows that girls ages 10–14 have caught up with boys of that age when it comes to suicide rates:
In 2017, the suicide rate of 10-to-14-year-old boys was twice that of girls (male-female ratio=1.98). By 2024, however, the suicide rate among boys was only 4% higher than that among girls in this age group (ratio=1.04). Gender disparities in suicide trends since 2018 appear to be responsible for the narrowing gap, as the suicide rate for boys decreased by 35% from 2018 to 2024 while the suicide rate for girls increased 13%. From 2007 to 2024, the suicide rate for 10-to 14-year-old girls [per 100,000] more than quadrupled (from 0.51 to 2.28) while the suicide rate for boys nearly doubled (from 1.20 to 2.38).
In 2024, the suicide rate for girls and boys was roughly equal:
While US 10-to-14-year-old boys once had twice the suicide rate of girls, there was virtually no gender gap in suicide in this age group in 2024.
What is happening to children in this country? The author issues an urgent call to find out:
These results suggest that suicide prevention efforts for preadolescents and young adolescents should equally consider risk factors applicable to both boys and girls. Future research should explore the possible reasons behind these trends, including determining risk factors for suicide that have declined for boys but increased or stayed steady for girls in the post pandemic era, which may inform suicide prevention programs and interventions.
I don’t think one needs to be an expert to partly understand what is going on. Covid-related school lockdowns skewed childhood socialization. The harms of social media probably affect girls more than boys. There is also widespread family discord and disintegration. The collapse of faith. Child abuse and neglect. The push in our schools to sexualize children. (In this regard, I was pleased that the study assumed the reality of the biological binary and used no ideological gender jargon.) Moreover, there has been an explosion of hysteria about the role of women in society — and about motherhood specifically — as demonstrated by the Lindsay Clancy craziness.
Let us pray that health-care researchers, and society more generally, put the welfare of children ahead of adult desires — which is likely a major cause of the mental health troubles of our youth.