Thoughts of suicide down for most student groups, according to Healthy Kids Colorado fall 2020 survey
A survey of Colorado high school students found they were less likely to report drug use and suicidal thoughts during the pandemic than a year earlier.
The teens surveyed in fall 2020 were less likely to say they’d recently used alcohol, marijuana, tobacco or e-cigarettes than those who had participated in 2019. Fewer reported recently using prescription drugs without a doctor’s order, though the decline was small enough that it could have been a random fluctuation.
The survey’s mental health questions also suggested some students benefited from the changes of the last year, or at least coped with them. The percentage of teens reporting they had felt sad or hopeless for at least two weeks was roughly stable, and the percentage who reported thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts was down.
Black teens were an exception, reporting higher rates of suicidal thoughts or attempts, but the survey included so few that it’s uncertain if the change was real or a statistical fluke. Suicide deaths among adults in Colorado did rise for people of color last year and fell for white people.
Meg Wingerter – Dever Post – 2021-07-03.
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