The Depressed and Hopeless Teen in The Bahamas
The Bahamas Ministry of Health’s Global School Health Report 2025
Several factors contribute to the perpetuation of violence within societies. Witnessing violence is one of those factors. In 2023, 32.8% of teens reported experiencing or witnessing violence at home, a notable increase from 25% in 1998. Additionally, nearly 30% of teens reported being involved in physical fights, while 27% were physically attacked in the past year, The prevalence of teens carrying weapons climbed from 12.6% (1998) to 18.2% (2023), a 44% increase. Furthermore, almost 8% of teens admit to being a current gang member.
Bullying continues to be a lived experience for far too many teens, Over 1 in 3 teens (38%) report being bullied either on or off school premises, and 15.7% report being cyberbullied.
Unacceptably, almost 10% of Bahamian teens have been forced to have sex. An additional 9.6% have been sexually exploited. While more girls are forced to have sex, more boys experience sexual exploitation and, in the relationship context, emotional abuse.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide ranks among the top three leading causes of death among teens globally and in the LAC region. Overall, the mental health of teens in The Bahamas continues to worsen, with close to 30% of teens always or most times feeling depressed and hopeless, compared to 19.9% in 1998. In addition, teens who always or most times feel lonely have more than doubled, reaching 25.6%. The proportion of teens unable to sleep due to excessive worrying increased from 14.1%% in 2013 to 19.6% in 2023.
The proportion of teens seriously contemplating suicide has risen significantly, nearly quadrupling from 6.6% in 1998 to 25.2% in 2023.
Currently, 23.1%% of Bahamian teens have formulated a suicide plan, and 19.5% have attempted suicide. To put this into perspective, in a typical classroom of 35 students, approximately 9 students have seriously considered suicide, 8 students have created a plan, and 7 students have made a suicide attempt.
Self-harm behaviours, without the intent to die, have also surged - almost tripling from 9.5% in 1998 to 26.7% in 2023. Girls are disproportionately affected by suicidality and self-harm behaviours relative to their male counterparts. These troubling trends highlight an urgent need for targeted and gender-sensitive mental health interventions for Bahamian teens, with particular attention to the higher vulnerability among girls.
The data highlights the interconnected nature of bullying, loneliness, worry, and mental health outcomes, with loneliness and worry contributing to, but not solely determining, harmful behaviors.
Although 61.3% of teens know where to access professional mental health help, only 23.4 %% feel they have someone to confide in about their personal worries and problems. And, 58,4% rarely or never talk to anyone about their challenges, indicating a critical gap between awareness of resources and availability of trusted, accessible support systems. Bridging the gap between professional resources and personal support will be essential to building resilience and improving mental health outcomes for Bahamian adolescents.
