Distress signal

THE 2026 Global School-Based Student Health Survey’s finding of increased suicidal thoughts and attempts among students in grades nine to 11 — with girls outpacing boys in both — is “a distress signal from our children” and a warning of a crisis that “did not happen overnight”, according to a child and adolescent development expert.

“When more than one in three grade 11 girls says she has thought about ending her life, and nearly one in three grade 9 girls says she has actually tried, we are not looking at an anomaly, we are looking at a generation in crisis,” Therrain Davis, lecturer in the Child and Adolescent Development Programme at the University of Technology, Jamaica’s College of Health Sciences, told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

According to researchers, in comparing the 2010, 2017 and 2026 survey results, “mental health indicators have worsened over time with more students reporting suicidal thoughts, suicidal planning, suicide attempts, anxiety and depression”.