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CHICAGO — An increase in suicide rates among U.S. teens occurred at the same time social media use surged and a new analysis suggests there may be a link.
Suicide rates for teens rose between 2010 and 2015 after they had declined for nearly two decades, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why the rates went up isn’t known.
The study doesn’t answer the question, but it suggests that one factor could be rising social media use. Recent teen suicides have been blamed on cyberbullying, and social media posts depicting “perfect” lives may be taking a toll on teens’ mental health, researchers say.
“After hours of scrolling through Instagram feeds, I just feel worse about myself because I feel left out,” said Caitlin Hearty, a 17-year-old Littleton, Colorado, high school senior who helped organize an offline campaign last month after several local teen suicides.
“No one posts the bad things they’re going through,” said Chloe Schilling, also 17, who helped with the campaign, in which hundreds of teens agreed not to use the internet or social media for one month.
The study’s authors looked at CDC suicide reports from 2009-15 and results of two surveys given to U.S. high school students to measure attitudes, behaviors and interests. About half a million teens ages 13 to 18 were involved. They were asked about use of electronic devices, social media, print media, television and time spent with friends. Questions about mood included frequency of feeling hopeless and considering or attempting suicide.
The researchers didn’t examine circumstances surrounding individual suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the study provides weak evidence for a popular theory and that many factors influence teen suicide.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
Data highlighted in the study include:
—Teens’ use of electronic devices including smartphones for at least five hours daily more than doubled, from 8 percent in 2009 to 19 percent in 2015. These teens were 70 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts or actions than those who reported one hour of daily use.
—In 2015, 36 percent of all teens reported feeling desperately sad or hopeless, or thinking about, planning or attempting suicide, up from 32 percent in 2009. For girls, the rates were higher — 45 percent in 2015 versus 40 percent in 2009.
—In 2009, 58 percent of 12th grade girls used social media every day or nearly every day; by 2015, 87 percent used social media every day or nearly every day. They were 14 percent more likely to be depressed than those who used social media less frequently.
“We need to stop thinking of smartphones as harmless,” said study author Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who studies generational trends. “There’s a tendency to say, ‘Oh, teens are just communicating with their friends.’ Monitoring kids’ use of smartphones and social media is important, and so is setting reasonable limits, she said.
Dr. Victor Strasburger, a teen medicine specialist at the University of New Mexico, said the study only implies a connection between teen suicides, depression and social media. It shows the need for more research on new technology, Strasburger said.
He noted that skeptics who think social media is being unfairly criticized compare it with so-called vices of past generations: “When dime-store books came out, when comic books came out, when television came out, when rock and roll first started, people were saying ‘This is the end of the world.’”
With its immediacy, anonymity, and potential for bullying, social media has a unique potential for causing real harm, he said.
“Parents don’t really get that,” Strasburger said.
—AP reporter P. Solomon Banda contributed to this story from Littleton, Colorado.

Area residents can help bring a little joy to less fortunate children in St. Mary Parish this Christmas.

The Marine Corps League, St. Mary Detachment is collecting toys for its annual Toys for Tots program, which provides toys to children of families in need.

Toys for Tots Coordinator Bill Goessl said organizers will collect toys through Christmas. There will be about 40 Toys for Tots boxes at businesses and schools throughout St. Mary Parish where people can donate a new, unwrapped toy.

The St. Mary Detachment holds various fundraisers throughout the year to supplement the Toys for Tots program.

Volunteers have collected a good supply of toys for children who are 5 years old and younger. But they are short on toys for children ages 7 years old to 12 years old, Goessl said.

The Toys for Tots program normally has a more difficult time getting toys for older children, but they have had an even harder time this year, he said.

People wanting to make monetary donations to Toys for Tots may do so by making checks or money orders payable to Toys for Tots and mailing them to P.O. Box 1383, Morgan City, LA 70381.

All donations sent to that P.O. Box will stay in the area to help local children.

In 2016, organizers collected 4,896 toys to give to 1,098 needy children in St. Mary Parish and lower St. Martin Parish.

Toys will be distributed from 8 a.m.-noon Dec. 16 at three locations in the parish, including VFW Post 4222, located at 1504 Sandra St. in Morgan City; the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce Office, located at 600 Main St. in Franklin; and the West St. Mary Civic Center, located at 1472 La. 318 in the Four Corners-Sorrel area.

In certain cases, some toys may be distributed after the distribution date, but anyone wanting to receive toys should plan to pick them up Dec. 16 at the designated locations and hours, Goessl said.

Applications to receive toys must be filled out by Dec. 4. Applications can be picked up at St. Mary Outreach, located at 608 First St., Suite 102 in Morgan City, at the chamber of commerce office in Franklin, and at the West St. Mary Civic Center.

Also in connection with the Toys for Tots program, the Marine Corps Band New Orleans Toys for Tots Christmas Concert will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. Admission is free, but a new, unwrapped toy is appreciated.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Tri-City area. In the top photo, Rudolph leads the reindeer hitched to the Spirit of Morgan City shrimp boat, which doubles as Santa's sleigh this time of year. In the bottom photo, a Merry Christmas banner greets drivers as they approach the La. 182 bridge on Brashear Avenue. People who work will get something extra in their stocking this year: Christmas falls on a Monday, so most will have a three-day weekend.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — As the competition to be Louisiana’s next treasurer enters its final week, the two candidates are sparring over the role of the state’s chief money manager and their qualifications for the job, as they struggle to draw voters to the polls.
Democrat Derrick Edwards and Republican John Schroder have the same problem that has plagued contenders since the start of campaign season: attracting interest to a race that few voters seem to care about when they learn it’s on the ballot.

For those paying attention to the Nov. 18 runoff, the two candidates offer diverging perspectives on the position.

Schroder is a former state House member, Army veteran, ex-law enforcement official and businessman from St. Tammany Parish who resigned his legislative seat to run full-time for treasurer.

He’s running on his legislative record as a fiscal conservative and positioning himself in the same mold as long-time treasurer John Kennedy, a popular Republican who left the job after winning election to the U.S. Senate, prompting the $6 million special election for treasurer.

“I’ve spent most of my life, my adult life in public service in some capacity,” Schroder said. “I’m protected the home-front. I’ve protected the streets of this country. And I think I would be great protecting their money,” Schroder said.

While Schroder regularly talks about curbing wasteful government spending, Edwards has struck back at the campaign talking point, noting the treasurer has no control over the state’s purse strings, the Legislature does.

“Either he is intentionally trying to mislead the people of this great state or he has no idea what the state treasurer job does,” Edwards told Democrats in a recent speech.

A lawyer who lives in Jefferson Parish, Edwards has never held elective office, though he ran unsuccessfully last year for U.S. Senate. He’s confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down by a high school football injury 28 years ago. Edwards describes himself as more fit to be treasurer, citing his accounting and legal degrees versus Schroder’s criminal justice degree.

“This is not about party affiliation, as far as Democrat or Republican,” Edwards said in a recent radio interview. “This is about qualifications.”

Louisiana’s treasurer is the state banker, investing, disbursing and managing the state’s money and its savings accounts. The treasurer chairs the Bond Commission, which oversees state borrowing and debt levels.

Edwards said he’d bring more transparency to state government, by offering taxpayers more information about how their tax dollars are spent. He said he’d push to improve the state’s credit rating after recent downgrades.

Schroder also talks about accountability, but he also said the treasurer can influence state spending through the megaphone of the office. Kennedy spent years in the position as a regular critic of Louisiana’s governors and their budget policies.

“I spent 10 years fighting (inefficiencies and the growth of government). And now I can spend more years fighting it from the treasurer’s office like John Kennedy did,” Schroder said.

The October primary drew a dismal 14 percent turnout statewide. With fewer municipal races on the ballot, turnout for the runoff is expected to fall even lower. And that makes the treasurer’s race more of a toss-up than expected in a conservative state that has rarely elected
Democrats to statewide office in recent years.

Though he’s raised little money and done minimal advertising, Edwards is considered to have a better-than-usual shot at a victory because turnout is expected to be so poor statewide and because New Orleans — with its solidly Democratic base of voters — has a competitive mayor’s race that could make it one of the higher-turnout spots in the state.

Schroder, however, remains the front-runner in the competition after Republicans in the six-candidate primary split 67 percent of the primary vote. The most recent campaign finance reports showed Schroder with $171,000 available for spending, compared to $7,800 for Edwards.

The special election will fill the remaining two years of Kennedy’s term. Kennedy’s top aide, Ron Henson, is working as interim treasurer until someone is elected. Henson has backed Schroder.