Why are teen girls in crisis? It's not just social media

[Jilly_in_VA]

Anxiety over academics. Post-lockdown malaise. Social media angst.

Study after study says American youth are in crisis, facing unprecedented mental health challenges that are burdening teen girls in particular. Among the most glaring data: A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed almost 60% of U.S. girls reported persistent sadness and hopelessness. Rates are up in boys, too, but about half as many are affected.

Adults offer theories about what is going on, but what do teens themselves say? Is social media the root of their woes? Are their male peers somehow immune, or part of the problem?

The Associated Press interviewed five girls in four states and agreed to publish only their first names because of the sensitive nature of the topics they discussed. The teens offered sobering — and sometimes surprising — insight.

“We are so strong and we go through so, so much,” said Amelia, a 16-year-old Illinois girl who loves to sing and wants to be a surgeon.

She also has depression and anxiety. Like 13% of U.S. high school girls surveyed in the government report, she is a suicide attempt survivor. Hospitalization after the 2020 attempt and therapy helped. But Amelia has also faced bullying, toxic friendships, and menacing threats from a boy at school who said she “deserved to be raped.”

https://apnews.com/article/teens-girls-mental-health-social-media-928d45094e94fccb81e1fa9aca30fcdf?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_11

I think it's happening earlier now. A lot of this is stuff I dealt with in college 50 years ago...

[Walleye]

1. And now they have to deal with the same fear we had of unwanted pregnancy

[GPV]

7. Yes

[pwb]

2. Reproductive freedoms being taken away from the young

may have a bit to do with it? Woman and Mothers will be heard very loudly in future elections. Their daughters deserve the same life they had. Free of fear.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. I imagine so yes! But at the same time it's likely happening on the other end of the spectrum

as well these days, given young people are well-aware of climate change, and therefore likely consider the possibility that it may be a bad thing for the planet for them to ever have children.

A lot of teens are also likely fairly aware that it costs a lot of $$$ to raise a kid and are scared away from the idea on those grounds, even though optimally, they'd have kids.

Obviously not every teen girl wishes to grow up and make a baby or ten, I don't mean it like that but it's a pretty common goal for humanity in general, and therefore could easily be a some part of statistics like this.

Overall I think there's a TON of factors in problem like this ... but toxic masculinity being foisted on teen boys by the assholes on the right, as well as the easy availability of internet porn generally featuring women in their 20's that boys expect their high school classmate to emulate ... neither of those are going to be good for teen females mental health.

The prospects of low wages, expensive 2ndary education, expensive health care, expensive housing costs, both parents working at least 1 job ... etc etc etc, all these larger societal problems probably don't help either.

[Sanity Claws]

3. 13% of high school girls surveyed are suicide survivors

My jaw dropped open when I read that.
How was the survey sample done?

[Lovie777]

4. A lot of the red states say "no exception to abortion".........................

even if raped or incest. WTF.

Rapist and incestophile have more rights than the victim. How does that any woman feel.

[AltairIV]

6. Being an a**hole is not age dependent

Mr."deserved to be raped" needs an introduction to my baseball bat on the side of your head.

[Tetrachloride]

8. I have assisted on crises a few times

One key is always answering the phone

[Upward]

9. Maybe A Subset of Us Were Always in Crisis

And few people realized it, because w/out social media, who was comparing notes? We're talking about eras when girls' insecurities were always being dismissed, unless they became so problematic that treatment was demanded.

We didn't talk about teen female depression until Lisa, Bright and Dark. We didn't talk about DID until Sybil. Didn't talk about rape until Samantha Montgomery starred in A Case of Rape. Didn't talk about sexual harassment until the 1980s. Didn't talk about incest until Something About Amelia.

We didn't discuss Anorexia Nervosa until Karen Carpenter died. Didn't talk about Bulimia until Di.

And in all those times, if a teen girl was impacted by any of that she probably didn't tell anyone except for her very closest friends, or asked someone at her school for help and blew shit up.

Now, we have Social Media. You would think these would be regular topics of discussion, now that we can all join in, right? But what if it's the opposite? What if social media is actually keeping girls from discussing the things leading to depression, out of fear of being trolled by people who are not their friends? Fear of being criticized or punished by their dysfunctional family for airing dirty laundry?


Who do girls go to, to get help working out their shit, when everyone is connected to the internets?