6th May 2015 8:00
By Blue Tutors
New research has shown an alarming rise in anxiety and emotional problems amongst school girls in the UK. The research carried out by University College London and The Anna Freud Centre suggests that there has been a 55 percent increase in anxiety and emotional problems for girls between 2009 and 2014. The study highlighted that the level of other mental health and behavioural difficulties amongst young people has remained fairly constant, whilst emotional issues amongst girls has risen sharply. Anxiety amongst girls over academic performance and body image appear to be the areas of principle concern, and are exacerbated by social media.
Researchers compared the mental health of over 1,500 11-13 year old boys and girls in 2009 and again in 2014, collecting data on age, gender, ethnicity, whether students were receiving free school meals and the socio-economic backgrounds of the students at their schools. The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, suggests that in an average class of 30 students there will now be at least 3 girls with emotional problems. The researchers said that the findings indicated an epidemic of anxiety issues amongst girls of this generation. Dr Elian Fink warned that significant changes had occurred over the last 5 years which specifically affected young girls.
The report concluded that more specific interventions were needed in order to address emotional issues amongst girls. In particular, report authors highlighted the need for schools to play a more active role in picking up and addressing issues. They warned that emotional problems were often overlooked in schools because behavioural problems were easier to spot because of the disruption they can cause in schools. By contrast, emotional problems are easy to miss because they do not usually cause disruptive behaviour, a fact which means that teachers are both less likely to observe and to address them. The report called for schools to be more vigilant, and to ensure that young people’s mental health services were made available to students. They also called for vigilance with regards to social media, which seemed to be a key factor in undermining girls’ emotional wellbeing.