Find Local Data About Latina Girls' Emotional Health

Jan. 25, 2008

Contact: Andy Krackov, senior director of public information, at (650) 736-0677 or andrew.krackov@lpfch.org, if you have any questions.

The Washington Post reports this week on the roughly 2 million Latina girls in the United States who have tried to take their lives. Data show that Latinas ages 12-17 are more likely than any other racial/ethnic group their age to attempt suicide.

Local Data

Bay Area data mirror national trends. While 23 percent of all seventh graders surveyed in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in 2004 reported feeling "so sad/hopeless almost every day for two weeks" that they stopped doing some usual activities, 33 percent of Latina girls said the same. See page 22 of the 2006 Preteen Report, a data portrait of local preteens commissioned by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. The report also shows that local hospitalizations for self-inflicted injuries were most prevalent for Latina and Caucasian girls. http://www.lpfch.org/informed/facts/preteenreport.pdf.