How are teens and young adults coping?

In these tumultuous times, we check in on the mental health of teens and young adults who are reporting the highest rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

While we are all living through tumultuous, scary and stressful times, adolescents and young adults may be particularly vulnerable to all the upheaval. Young people are experiencing higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts than other groups, according to a recent CDC study. This hour we look at the toll the pandemic is having on the mental health of teens and young adults. We’ll also discuss the additional stresses young people of color face around police-involved killings, the protests and the increasingly volatile and violent responses to them. Our guests are adolescent psychologist LISA DAMOUR, and University of Pennsylvania psychologist and professor HOWARD STEVENSON. But first, how do young people view the Covid threat and why are so many of them thwarting social distancing and mask recommendations? University of Pennsylvania neurologist FRANCES JENSEN explains that it has a lot to do with their brains.