A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of violent fatalities over a twenty year period indicated that the rate of homicide deaths among young people in the United States spiked with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As many people around the country stayed at home due to lockdowns and closures of businesses, schools, and other public institutions at the beginning of the pandemic, the survey also revealed that suicide rates among young adults were at a record high for the last several decades.
The results of a 20-year study on youth violent mortality rates are as follows:
Homicides in Older Teens Rose to a Record High
During the early years of the pandemic, the homicide rate among young adults (ages 15 to 19) reached its highest peak in over 25 years. The rate of homicide increased the most from 2019 to 2020 across all age categories.
In 2020, there will be 12.3 homicide fatalities for every 100,000 adults. In 2019, that number was 8.9 deaths per 100,000 adults. In 2021, it reached a record high of 12.8% per 100,000 people, making it the worst year since 1997.
Teens aged 15-24 had much greater suicide and homicide rates compared to those aged 10-14, according to the study’s authors. The homicide rate for those aged 10-24 was approximately 7.8 per 100,000 in 2019.
From 6.7 per 100,000 in 2000 to 10.7 per 100,000 in 2020, that was the greatest rise in the 20-year research. Around 2010, suicide rates among young people were higher than homicide rates; however, due to an uptick in homicides, researchers found that the two were roughly equal by 2021.
Suicides and homicides among youths reach 20-year high… https://t.co/6SYsxEqpjR
— Nat’l Assoc of EMTs (@NAEMT_) June 15, 2023
Suicide Increase Most Profound Among Young Adults Over 20
Teen suicide rates were shown to be constant between 2001 and 2007, but to rise by 62% between 2007 and 2021. Teenagers and young adults had a suicide rate of 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007. In 2021, that rate had risen to 11 per 100,000.
Those between the ages of 20 and 24 had the highest rates, according to the study’s authors. At the outbreak’s outset, the suicide rate among adults in their early twenties was the highest it had been in more than 50 years.
Over a 20-year period, there was a roughly 63% increase in the rate of suicide in that age group. Once again, the jump from 2020 to 2021 was the highest annual jump.
To read more from the California Examiner, please visit the following pages:
- Heartbreaking Murder-suicide Claims Lives of Father and Young Son in New Bedford
- Man Kills Woman, Burns House, Commits Suicide
What the Data Says About Mental Health and the Pandemic
According to the report, suicide and homicide will rank second and third, respectively, among the major causes of mortality among young people in 2021.
Prior governmental study has connected an increase in abuse, violence, and other “adverse childhood experiences” to deteriorating mental health during the pandemic.
According to CDC data gathered in 2021, more than a third of high school students reported experiencing negative effects on their mental health as a result of the epidemic.
In the past year, around 44% of people surveyed reported feeling chronic despair or hopelessness. Increases have been attributed by experts to a variety of causes, including rising depression rates, a lack of access to mental health care, and the prevalence of firearms in American households.
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