Increases in Depression, Self-Harm, and Suicide Among U.S. Adolescents After 2012

Abstract

 Objective

Increases in depression among adolescents have been concurrent with increases in digital media use. In this article, recent trends in mental health among U.S. adolescents and young adults are discussed and theories about their possible connection with concurrent increases in digital media use are presented.

 Methods

Large studies of trends in mental health in the 2000s and 2010s are described and possible mechanisms for the trends are discussed based on existing literature.

 Results

After remaining stable during the early 2000s, the prevalence of mental health issues among U.S. adolescents and young adults began to rise in the early 2010s. These trends included sharp increases in depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide, with increases more pronounced among girls and young women. There is a growing consensus that these trends may be connected to the rise in technology use. Increased digital media and smartphone use may influence mental health via several mechanisms, including displacement of time spent in in-person social interactions, individually and across the generation, as adolescent cultural norms evolve; disruption of in-person social interactions; interference with sleep time and quality; cyberbullying and toxic online environments; and online contagion and information about self-harm.

 Conclusions

U.S. adolescents and young adults are in the midst of a mental health crisis, particularly among girls and young women. The rise of digital media may have played a role in this problem via several mechanisms.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Depression, self-harm, suicide, and unhappiness suddenly increased among adolescents after 2012, especially among girls and young women.

• Increases in depression among adolescents have been concurrent with increases in digital media use.

• Increased digital media and smartphone use may influence mental health via several mechanisms, including displacement and disruption of in-person social interactions, interference with sleep, cyberbullying, and online information about self-harm.

In the early 2010s, reports began to surface that more adolescents and young adults were seeking help for mental health issues (1, 2). This finding could have indicated greater comfort with seeking help, however, rather than a true increase in the prevalence of mental health issues (3). To determine whether the prevalence of mental health issues has actually risen in the population of U.S. adolescents as a whole, data from unscreened, representative samples—not just those who seek help—are necessary (4). Below, I describe studies documenting recent trends in such samples.

Twenge, J. (2020). Increases in Depression, Self-Harm, and Suicide Among U.S. Adolescents After 2012 and Links to Technology Use: Possible Mechanisms. Psychiatr Res Clin Pract, 2(1),19-25. Doi : https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20190015