From The Annie E. Casey Foundation:
The coronavirus pandemic has brought children trauma and tremendous loss over the past two and a half years. As of July 2022, the health crisis had killed more than 1 million people in America, including more than 1,600 children. During this same time span, more than 200,000 kids had lost a parent or primary caregiver to the virus.
These conditions have helped fuel what the U.S. surgeon general has called a mental health pandemic for youth. According to the Data Book, the incidence of anxiety and depression among kids has spiked. Comparing pre-pandemic to the first year of the COVID-19 crisis: The share of children struggling to make it through the day rose nearly 26% — from 9.4% (5.8 million kids) in 2016 to 11.8% (7.3 million kids) in 2020.
This pandemic within a pandemic has also laid bare persistent disparities. Across the United States, 9% of all high schoolers attempted suicide in the years before the most recent federal survey. This rate rises to 12% for Black students, 13% for students of two or more races and 26% for American Indian or Alaska Native high schoolers. Among LGBTQ youth, the statistics are similarly lopsided, with 23% of gay, lesbian or bisexual high schoolers reporting to have attempted suicide compared to just 6% of their heterosexual peers.
Click here to access the 2022 KIDS COUNT® Data Book.