Homicides among older teenagers and suicides among adults in their early 20s rose during the COVID-19 pandemic to their highest levels in at least two decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
The CDC report on homicide and suicide rates among people aged 10-24 covered 20 years, from 2001 to 2021. It found the homicide rate soared by 37%, from 7.8 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019 to 10.7 per 100,000 in 2020, the biggest annual increase in those years. The suicide rate rose more slowly, reaching 11 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021.
What’s more, the homicide rate converged with the suicide rate in 2020 for the first time in a decade, said CDC statistician Sally Curtin, the report’s co-author.
“They both continue to increase,” Ms. Curtin told The Washington Times. “In 2021, a person aged 10-24 was about equally likely to die from suicide as homicide, about 7,000 deaths each.”
Suicide and homicide have become the second and third leading causes of death for people in that age range, she added in an email. The top cause is accidents, such as vehicle crashes, drownings and drug overdoses.
During the pandemic, homicides hit a new high for teens, and suicides hit a new high for adults in their early 20s.
Among 10- to 14-year-olds, the suicide rate tripled, from 0.9 per 100,000 children in 2007 to 2.9 per 100,000 through 2018, and did not change significantly in 2019-2021. The homicide rate for this age group doubled, from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2016 to 1.4 per 100,000 in 2020, and remained unchanged in 2021.
By comparison, the homicide rate for 15- to 19-year-olds increased from 8.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2019 to 12.3 per 100,000 in 2020 and 12.8 per 100,000 in 2021. That’s the highest for this age group in at least 20 years.
The suicide rate for 20- to 24-year-olds increased 9%, from 17.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 to 19.4 per 100,000 in 2021, the highest annual increase during the period studied.
In the same age group, the homicide death rate jumped 34%, from 13.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2019 to 18 per 100,000 in 2020. It remained unchanged in 2021 as the suicide rate passed it.
Some health experts contacted by The Times cited pandemic-era surges in youth depression and anxiety, gun violence and pandemic lockdowns that kept emotionally struggling people at home as factors driving the increases.
“Pandemics are major disruptive forces that have impacts that reach into all aspects of health and behavior,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It has been widely demonstrated that mental health suffered at the same time that mental healthcare provision was interrupted and this may be a factor involved in the increases in suicide.”
It’s impossible to discuss the CDC report without noting other data that shows firearms accounted for half the increase in child and teen deaths during the pandemic, said Stephanie Cunnan, head of communications for 97Percent, a gun control advocacy group founded last year.
“After analyzing these disturbing numbers, the conversation inevitably turns to how do we stop this trend and save lives? All [of the solutions] are focused on removing access to guns for those at highest risk of violence,” Ms. Cunnan said in an email.
Pandemic lockdowns likely played the primary role in sparking isolated young people to violence, said Dr. Mike Artigues, president of the conservative American College of Pediatricians.
“The recent rise in both suicide and homicide rates are no doubt multifactorial and likely affected by the pandemic and increasing use of social media to the detriment of in person human interaction,” Dr. Artigues said in an email. “We believe that one of the keys to combating this tragic mental health crisis begins with an overall respect for all human life, which includes strengthening the family and promoting healthy teen relationships.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.