![]() ![]() Girls look to grown women for examples of how they can behave and what they can do. For instance, at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, an organization we direct and manage that is focused on prevention of bullying and cyberbullying, staff members post female achievements – be they intellectual, artistic, scientific, athletic or literary – on social media channels every Friday, using the hashtag #FridaysForFemales. One way that adults can help is simply by acknowledging and celebrating those qualities. Childhood can be a canvas for children to discover where their talents lie, which can be a source of great satisfaction in life. ![]() But an overemphasis on what you look like is clearly not healthy, and it is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, especially in women.Īdults can play a key role in encouraging girls to value other qualities, such as their artistic abilities or intelligence. Thinking about your own appearance is natural and understandable. Teaching girls at young ages to be cheerleaders for one another – and modeling that behavior as grownups – can help ease the sense of competition that today’s teens are facing. Research has found that social media encourages competition between girls, particularly around their physical appearance. Unfortunately, this message seems to have been lost in the tsunami of media coverage about bodies, looks and social achievement. ![]() Supporting one another instead of competingĭuring the 1970s and 1980s, competition between women was seen as something that held women back. In one study of teens, social support was linked to greater resilience – such as being better able to withstand certain types of social cruelty like bullying. Support from friends can also help mitigate the link between extreme adolescent anxiety and suicidal thoughts. WATCH: Social media companies face legal scrutiny over deteriorating mental health among teens Studies have found strong links between a lack of parental and peer support and depression during adolescence. Social and emotional connectivity between humans is likely one of the most potent weapons we have against significant stress and sadness. Here are six strategies that research shows can work. So how can parents, teachers and friends help girls through this crisis? Children and teens are usually neither indifferent to nor unaware of political realities. These aren’t just abstractions for many boys and girls: They are their future. And in a 2021 study that our team conducted with 240 teens, 70% of girls said that they “very much” missed seeing people during the pandemic, compared with only 28% of boys reporting that sentiment.Ī second factor is social media, which can be a wonderful source of support but also, at times, a crushing blow to the self-esteem and psychological well-being of girls.įinally, we think that all young people are struggling with issues like climate change and social upheaval. Previous CDC research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected girls. In our view, a number of key factors have converged to create this mental health crisis in teen girls. Since 2020, we’ve seen more changes in girls, overall, including increases in depression and thoughts of suicide. We are a research team that studies children and their social and emotional development, and during the pandemic we’ve been specifically focused on mental health in children and adolescents. What’s worse, 30% of the girls surveyed reported seriously considering suicide and 13% attempted suicide one or more times in 2021. teen girls ‘in crisis’ with unprecedented rise in suicidal behavior That’s nearly twice as high as the 29% of males who reported having those feelings in 2021. But new research suggests that teen girls in particular are suffering in unprecedented ways.Ī survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was published in early February 2023 found that, in 2021, 57% of high school girls reported experiencing “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year,” up from 36% in 2011. It’s a well-established fact that children’s and teens’ mental health took a hit during the pandemic. ![]()
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