A recent analysis reveals a troubling rise in self-harm incidents among California’s youth, with multiracial girls experiencing the steepest increase. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, examined data from emergency departments and inpatient care facilities between 2005 and 2021, uncovering a more than doubling of self-harm rates among young people. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that nearly 73% of adolescents treated for self-harm injuries were girls.
White girls aged 15 to 19 had the highest self-harm rates in 2005, but multiracial adolescents have seen a 75% increase in self-harm rates since 2016. By 2021, multiracial teen girls had the highest rates of self-harm, followed by white girls. Among boys, multiracial teens also saw the highest rates, with incidents roughly doubling between 2016 and 2020. Emily Liu, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the study’s first author, emphasized the importance of examining data by sex, age, race, and ethnicity to understand these disparities.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly reduce self-harm cases, despite expectations that fewer people would seek hospital care. Jennifer Ahern, a professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley and senior author of the research, noted that self-harm injuries are a concrete manifestation of the ongoing mental health crisis. She stressed the need for clinicians to be prepared to support these children when they seek care.
Addressing these disparities requires targeted mental health interventions and resources to support multiracial adolescents, who are disproportionately affected by self-harm.
See: “Analysis finds steep increase of self-harm among California girls, multiracial youth” (April 14, 2025)