Research Topic 1:

The depression rate among teen girls in the United States has risen by 37 percent in the past decade, finds a study in Pediatrics. Researchers examined data from participants in the 2005 to 2014 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, including 172, 495 teens ages 12 to 17. The survey lists symptoms of depression and then asks participants whether they have experienced these symptoms in the past year. Using those criteria, 11.3 percent of teens reported a major depressive episode in 2014, up from 8.7 percent in 2005. Among teen girls, the rate rose to 17.3 percent in 2014 from 13.1 percent in 2005. The researchers say that it is unclear what is causing the rise, though an increase in depression risk factors such as cyberbullying could be partly to blame.

Research Topic 2:

Experts cannot predict suicidal behaviors any better than chance, according to a meta-analysis of 365 studies spanning 50 years, published in Psychological Bulletin. The studies examined risk factors such as depression, previous suicide attempts, stressful life events and substance abuse. Despite decades of research, none of these risk factors could predict suicide behaviors better than chance, and experts’ ability to predict suicide behaviors had not improved over time. The researchers suggest that future studies should not focus on individual risk factors but instead on developing machine-learning algorithms that combine tens or even hundreds of risk factors.

If you know of anyone suffering from depression or have talked about suicide, please get them help. The suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255.

Susie Bean Gives Team