Report: Sex Crimes Affected More Than 370M Girls, About 300M Boys Globally

Reuters: One In Eight Girls And Women Raped Or Sexually Assaulted Before Age 18, UNICEF Says
More than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in every eight worldwide, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, the United Nations children's agency said on Wednesday. The number rises to 650 million, or one in five, when taking into account "non-contact" forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse, UNICEF reported, in what it called the first global survey of the problem. (10/10)

USA Today: Most High School Students Say They've Had A Traumatic Experience As A Kid
A new study found that 3 in 4 high school students experienced at least one potentially traumatic event involving violence, abuse or exposure to mental health or substance use problems. And, notably, 1 in 5 high school students said they experienced at least four of these potentially traumatic events. Health experts call these events adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, and they've been shown to increase the risk of developing chronic health problems and mental health issues in adulthood. (Rodriguez, 10/9)

Roll Call: Survey: Most Adults Affected By Suicide, Want More Prevention
Nearly all U.S. adults agree that more action can be taken to reduce suicide deaths, with about three-fifths also reporting they have been personally affected by suicide, according to national survey data released Wednesday. Sixty-one percent of adults said they know someone who has considered, attempted or died by suicide, according to the 2024 Public Perception of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Poll, conducted by The Harris Poll. The biennial survey found that number has consistently risen, from 53 percent in 2018 to 55 percent in 2020 and 59 percent in 2022. (Raman, 10/9)

The Texas Tribune: Mental Wellness For Young Children Gains Support In Texas
It had only been a year since Estelle Sievert and her wife, Jane, joined the foster care program at SAFE Alliance in Austin when they were introduced to 3-week-old Noah in 2022. The couple immediately fell in love with their soon-to-be adopted son but knew the future might contain some challenges. The infant’s biological parent had a lifetime of severe mental illness compounded by years of using methamphetamines and PCP that went unaddressed, and studies show that trauma and mental illness can be passed down through generations. (Simpson, 10/9)

North Carolina Health News: Mental Health Providers Want To Help WNC After Helene Disaster
After weathering the storm at home in the town of Marion, A.C. was without power and water and decided to make the 30 mile-trip to Asheville to get supplies. A.C. is the manager of a local restaurant and also wanted to check on her business and make sure her employees were okay. (NC Health News is using initials to shield this woman’s identity because of the online bullying and threats she received after posting and sharing video about her experience on social media.) Similar to many western North Carolina residents, A.C. had been cut off from the world by Hurricane Helene — not knowing the full extent of the damage until she ventured out four days after the storm. (Knopf, 10/10)

The New York Times: Injury Fears Impact 68 Per Cent Of Footballers’ Mental Health, PFA Research Finds
The majority of footballers say their mental health is impacted by fear of injury, according to latest research from the Professional Footballers’ Association. An anonymous survey of over 1,000 male and female professional footballers during the 2023-24 season found 68 per cent cited injury concerns as having a major impact on their mental wellbeing. (Rampling, 10/9)

AP: Hawaii’s Prison System Confronts ‘A Huge Mental Health Crisis’
Chaylvin Oliveira-Kalama called his family almost every day from Halawa prison, and before he died he told his mother the voices he heard in his head were getting worse.The 30-year-old inmate had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression. Sometimes the voices that only he could hear advised him that if he killed himself, his mother and her husband would be “safe." ... But on June 18 Chaylvin hanged himself in his cell. (Dayton, 10/9)

If you need help - Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

Also —

KFF Health News: Older Men’s Connections Often Wither When They’re On Their Own
At age 66, South Carolina physician Paul Rousseau decided to retire after tending for decades to the suffering of people who were seriously ill or dying. It was a difficult and emotionally fraught transition. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, where I was going to go,” he told me, describing a period of crisis that began in 2017. Seeking a change of venue, Rousseau moved to the mountains of North Carolina, the start of an extended period of wandering. Soon, a sense of emptiness enveloped him. (Graham, 10/10)

KFF Health News: Watch: ‘Breaking The Silence Is A Step’ — Beyond The Lens Of ‘Silence In Sikeston’
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discusses her reporting for the “Silence in Sikeston” multimedia project, which explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community — and what it led her to learn about her own family’s past. (Anthony, 10/10)