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Update: I checked the raw CDC data behind that '1 in 4 teens' stat and found a survey question doing all the work
Last week I finally got tired of seeing that '1 in 4 teens seriously considered suicide' number thrown around everywhere, so I pulled the actual YRBS questionnaire from 2021. Turns out the jump is mostly from a wording change on one question plus kids who answered 'yes' to a screening item that was never meant to stand alone. When you line up the 2019 and 2021 versions side by side, the trend looks way flatter than the headlines claim. So do people actually read the questions before they share these stats, or do we just trust whoever put the graph on Twitter?
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olivia_white936d ago
You can spot a bad stat in five minutes if you actually pull the questionnaire instead of the headline. I keep the PDF bookmarked now because it saved me from repeating that number in a meeting.
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