First lady Melania Trump on Monday rolled out an awareness campaign aimed at tackling issues that children face as they grow up, from the effects of opioid addiction on families to the difficulties cyberbullying presents to mental health.
She announced a broad initiative for chidren’s well-being, but highlighted specific issues within that realm. Here are some statistics on how those issues are affecting children and teens:
Neonatal abstinence syndrome: Trump during her travels visited Lily’s Place, a clinic in Huntington, W.Va., that assists babies who have been born to mothers who used opioids while they were pregnant. The condition results in diarrhea, trembling, wailing, and difficulty sleeping or eating and is growing more prevalent as people continue to be addicted to drugs such as heroin and prescription painkillers. The most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not reflect every state, but show that the issue has been on the rise. In 1999, 2,419 babies were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome out of 1.6 million births across 14 states. By 2013, there were 8,270 cases of the syndrome out of 1.4 million births in 21 states.
Opioid overdose: Children and teens have lower rates of addiction and death from opioids than older age groups, but the incidence of such deaths among those groups has been growing. The number of drug overdose deaths among 15-to-19-year-olds rose 15 percent for males from 2014 to 2015 and 35 percent for females from 2013 to 2015, according to the latest information from the CDC. In all, 772 people in the age group died from overdoses, roughly 500 of whom were male.
Addiction: Though opioids have taken center stage in public policy debates at the White House and on Capitol Hill, data show that teens are more likely to use other addictive or illegal substances such as cigarettes, marijuana,or alcohol. Roughly 10 percent of young people over the age of 12 report they have used an illegal drug during the past month. Still, those numbers have been falling for years, according to surveys from high schools, and experts haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause behind the shift.
Online bullying: More than one-third of middle and high schoolers report that they have faced online bullying at some point, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center. The issue can cause depression and anxiety among young people, and is defined as being harassed intentionally, or mistreated or made fun of online or through a mobile device, such as texting. When asked about specific types of cyberbullying experienced in the previous month, 22.5 percent of respondents in surveys said they faced mean or hurtful comments, while 20.1 percent said rumors were spread about them. Fifteen percent of middle and high schoolers admit they have bullied other students.
Suicide: Suicide is the third-leading killer of young people between the ages of 10 and 24, killing roughly 4,600 in this group because of mental health issues such as depression. The numbers of suicides have tripled since the 1940s, federal data show. The issue goes even further among those who attempt suicide, with emergency rooms reporting they treat 157,000 self-inflicted injuries every year. Girls are more likely to attempt suicide than boys, while boys are more likely to die from suicide.
