Statistics

SUICIDE and DEPRESSION Girls in ninth through twelfth grade (34.5 percent) are significantly more likely than boys in the same grades (21.6 percent) to have felt sad or hopeless almost every day for at least 2 weeks.1 Tenth-grade girls (12.2 percent) were significantly more likely than tenth-grade boys (6.7 percent) to have attempted suicide.2 In 2005, over one-quarter (29 percent) of all students in grades 9 through 12 reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for an extended period (two or more weeks ina  row) in the last year. 12 NUTRITION and BODY IMAGE In 2001, 62.1 percent of ninth-grade girls reported attempting to lose weight compared with 31.8 percent of ninth-grade boys.3 High school girls (12.6 percent) were significantly more likely than boys (5.5 percent) to have taken diet pills, powders, or liquids during the previous month to lose weight. In addition, high school girls were significantly more likely (7.8 percent) than boys (2.9 percent) to have taken laxatives or vomited to lose weight or avoid gaining weight.4

RISKY BEHAVIOR The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among developed countries. About 1 million teens become pregnant each year; 80 percent of those pregnancies are unintended, and almost 50 percent end in abortions.5 One of every three girls had engaged in sex by age 16, and two out of three had by age 18.6 In the United States each year, nearly 4 in 10 young women—nearly 1 million a year—become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20.7 Eighty percent of these pregnancies are unintended,8and 79 percent are to unmarried teens.9 Among youth, minorities and girls are groups that have been particularly hard hit by HIV/AIDS.  Females comprise of a larger share of HIV/AIDS cases among teens than among adults in 2004, African Americans represented 61% of HIV/AIDS cases among 13-24 years old. 10 In the United States more than 19 million STD infection occur annually, with almost half of them are contracted by youth ages 15- 24 years old.11 Females ages 15-19 had the highest Chlamydia rate, followed by females ages 20 to 24. 11 Direct medical costs associated with STDs in the United States are estimated at up to $14.1 billion annually. 11 Each day, more than 7,000 kids in the United States under age 16 take their first drink

1.CDC. 2002. YRBSS, 2001, Sadness and suicide ideation and attempts. MMWR: CDC Surveillance Summaries 49(No.SS-5):1-94.
2. CDC. 2002. YRBSS, 2001, Table 12. MMWR: CDC Surveillance Summaries 49(No.SS-5):1-94.
3. CDC. 2002. YRBSS, 2001, Table 34. MMWR: CDC Surveillance Summaries 49(No.SS-5):1-94.
4. CDC. 2002. YRBSS, 2001, Table 38. MMWR: CDC Surveillance Summaries 49(No.SS-5):1-94.
5. The National Women's Health Information Center, the Office on Women's Health, HHS. 1998. Teen Pregnancy.
6. Ibid.
7Analysis of Henshaw, S.K. May 1996. U.S. teenage pregnancy statistics. New York: Alan Guttmacher Institute, and Forest, J.D. 1986, Proportion of U.S. women ever pregnant before age
8. Henshaw, S.K. 1998. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives 30(1):24-29, 46. Based on data from the 1982, 1988, and 1995 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth, supplemented by data from other sources. (Also see The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. August 2001. Facts and Stats.)
9. Curtin, S.C., and Martin, J.A. 2000. Births: Preliminary data for 1999. National Vital Statistics Reports 48(14). (Also see The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. August 2001. Facts and Stats.)
10. CDC, HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults (through 2004) Slide Series.
11. CDC, Trends in Reportable STDs “General Research” in US. 2003.
12. Childtrends Databank, Adolescents Who Feel Sad and Hopeless

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