Depressed and Hopeless

While many young people have been spared from the harshest physical consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, an increasingly large volume of research suggests they are facing drastic mental health consequences.

In June 2020, the CDC released data that suggests one in four adults ages 18 to 24 have considered suicide. And according to the recently released Harvard Youth Poll of 2,513 Americans ages 18 to 29, 51% of young Americans said that at least several days in the previous two weeks they had felt down, depressed or hopeless.

“There’s been this narrative that young people are spared a lot of the impact of Covid because they’re less likely to develop real severe physical complications,” says Ellen Burstein, one of the poll’s lead researchers and a junior at Harvard. “But it’s taken a profound toll on their mental health.”

Young people reported a range of serious mental health symptoms in the Harvard survey. A startling 68% say they have little energy; 59% say they have trouble with sleep; 52% find little pleasure in doing things; 49% have a poor appetite or are over-eating; 48% have trouble concentrating; 32% are moving so slowly, or are fidgety to the point that others notice; and 28% have had thoughts of self-harm.

Approximately 35% of Black respondents and 31% of Hispanic respondents said they experience bouts of severe depression triggering thoughts that they would be better off dead or hurting themselves.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...