ALMOST half of all 16-year-olds in the north meet the criteria for mental ill-health, new research has shown.
The data was published by the Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland, Professor Siobhán O’Neil, and found that 45.2 percent of 16-year-olds experience mental health issues.
The research from the 2023 Young Life and Times and Kids’ Life and Times survey sections on mental health, which were funded by the Mental Health Champion, found 52.9 percent of 16-year-old girls meet the criteria, and 32.8 percent of boys
Not massively surprising that depression and anxiety especially are on the rise. When 16 year olds see: global warming, rising house prices, job market tanking (constant threat of AI taking jobs not included) and much more, it’s not hard to understand when they see a bleak future for themselves.
Edit: Got a few replies now with people making the very intelligent point that rising house prices and job market crashing is not affecting 16yo. Yes, obviously that is not their *immediate* concern, well done for pointing out the obvious. But they are not stupid, they see this as well as the other things I mentioned as a sign of the general direction the world is going in. That can make anyone depressed. These aspects I listed all make for grim reading for their futures, and they typically do not see things improving. Hence, increased anxiety and depression.
Bonus point, you are all very privileged if you think rising house prices and mortgage rates and rent prices are not affecting 16yos. They typically live with their parents who have to afford all of these things. They are not stupid and can see the affect this has on their parents if they are not high earners.
You speak of influencers and how this generation are spoiled. They are not. Influencers are a loud minority. Most 16yos do not live a live of luxury and are very aware of what is happening around them as it affects their parents/guardians.
A lot of that is down to personal lifestyle choices having basic consequences. How many of these 16 year olds have gone 24 hours without social media, how many of them go for a 40 minute walk, when was the last time they just meditated for just 5 minutes, how many of them get 8 hours of sleep?
The world is stressful, not everyone has the same luxuries, inequality, climate change is scary, yada yada I know, you know, let’s just price that in and move on, but a lot of people think calling themselves mentally ill excuses their own habits as if you’re entitled to sit around all day on your phone, getting no excercise, and eating like shit and feel just as happy as the people who actually proactively work on calming their mind and being healthy.
Ill-health? We can’t say illness anymore?
Because too many people who are more than unsuitable to be parents have kids. “Parents” only want a cute baby, an accessory. They don’t think about the stages of growing up and that they have to deal with it later. They just want their kids to remain kids, not to have their own thoughts and personalities. Eventually, when the kid begins to formulate their own ideas of the world, the parents ostracize them, because it doesn’t match the parents’ ideas/ideology.
It’s absolutely disgusting and disheartening. And I was one of these teenagers. Even though I’m a young adult now, I am still depressed, struggle with anxiety and who knows what.
Edit: Forgot to add: lack of affordable/legal abortion.
Can it be largely due to overdiagnosis?
Wonder how many of these kids come from a single parent households
Switch off your phone, throw it away📱 and go for a walk.. problem solved
As with all statistics from surveys, take with a pinch of salt.
How was ‘mental ill health’ defined for the purposes of the survey? Sounds different to ‘mental illness’, itself a somewhat nebulous concept. What is a normal human, if unpleasant, experience vs an illness? How were the respondents selected and categorised? Were they self selecting? Were they self diagnosing? How was the survey circulated, what audience did it reach? Out of that audience, was their a bias in who was łikely ŧo respond? Who conducted the survey, who paid for it, are they reputable researchers and data scientists, do they have a bias, Etc, etc, etc.
Having said all that, in a society with many single child households where there is little experience of environments not supervised by adults. In a society with 24/7 news cycles and social media, where hitting negative emotional buttons has been elevated to a science. In a society so fast moving that the world can change massively inside a generation. In a society where children are spending more and more time indoors on academic tasks and staring at screens, where immense social pressure and fears are the norm, it should be no surprise that mental heath is an issue.
Empathy is already pretty low in this thread and it’s still early.
Keep expanding definition of mental ill-health and you get more “unwell” people. What a surprise.
Unpopular opinion, but I think the problem here is the definition of “mental ill-health”. 40 years ago, many of those, mental ill-health conditions were simply called life. Life is often hard and brutal. It’s only today stress and depression started to be diagnosed more and more.
Not saying, it’s a bad thing, but back in the day, when you revealed how you felt to older people around you, the response would be to “toughen up”, “life is hard, get over it”. Today you are brought to therapist and as a result you are recorded with a mental health condition. So, I don’t think this is a new phenomenon.
Holy fuck, the lack of empathy on this post is some next level shit 🤦♂️
Think theres a mix of things at play here
Social media absolutely plays a huge part. You are constantly bombarded with people who seem to be living better lives than you, acheiving more success than you or just seem happier overall. Do something stupid or screw up? It’s going up online and that shit won’t get forgotten. Add to the fact these apps are so addictive and its no wonder…
Then you got a lot of parents out there who have NO BUSINESS whatsoever in being parents… Be they narcissists, emotionally unavailable, unstable or just absolutely incomptetent and only doing it to please other relatives. What does it lead to? Traumatised kids with rotten self esteem and trust issues, thats what.
Though also, I reckon at least some of this is just because the younger generation tends to be much more open when talking about their mental health instead of just trying to suck it up like older folks (especially men). So thats a positive change I guess.
Thats called puberty…
In the generation of social media I am surprised it’s not 80%
While I don’t like to generalize, I have to say this:
I’ve noticed this in the last few years while traveling to my university campus. Many kids (both boys and girls) in public transportation such as busses/trains/metros etc. are absolutely unhinged and lack any kind of self-awareness. They yell profanities, blast their music out loud, and try to start shit out of nothing, with zero respect for other people. It’s fucking sickening. What are their parents even doing?
Definitions are important here. Periods of depression and anxiety are totally normal in all people, particularly during our teenage years. However, that’s not the same as having severe or long-lasting mental illness that requires treatment, or between chronis psychological conditions like bipolar disorder.
It’s important not to mix them up. Normal teenage mood swings are not mental disorders
Society responsible for that still have no idea what the reasons might possibly be vOv
I guess it’ll remain a mystery.
And probaly they all just fake it anyway (heavy irony warning).
I thank Meta, TikTok and Snapchat for that.
Just ban social media(except Reddit). Problem solved. 😀
Social media and the general state of the world today, the kids born after the millennium grew up in a world in which they were told one thing and experienced the complete opposite. These kids grew up being told that everyone is equal, and that you can work hard and eventually get a house and family. Instead somewhere along the way they realised that the world is actually becoming more unequal and that many people will work hard and never be able to afford property. Then throw social media into the mix, along with politicians who lie and steal.
Essentially, the young adults and kids of today have grown up in an insane world
Do these people realise that their articles and the current setting of „raising awareness“ leads to increased rate of diagnosis but also increases the amount of people who simply believe they are ill in challenging life situations?
24 comments
ALMOST half of all 16-year-olds in the north meet the criteria for mental ill-health, new research has shown.
The data was published by the Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland, Professor Siobhán O’Neil, and found that 45.2 percent of 16-year-olds experience mental health issues.
The research from the 2023 Young Life and Times and Kids’ Life and Times survey sections on mental health, which were funded by the Mental Health Champion, found 52.9 percent of 16-year-old girls meet the criteria, and 32.8 percent of boys
[Fits perfectly](https://youtu.be/lDK9QqIzhwk?si=f_QfUuoOpj-5FW5y&t=91)
Not massively surprising that depression and anxiety especially are on the rise. When 16 year olds see: global warming, rising house prices, job market tanking (constant threat of AI taking jobs not included) and much more, it’s not hard to understand when they see a bleak future for themselves.
Edit: Got a few replies now with people making the very intelligent point that rising house prices and job market crashing is not affecting 16yo. Yes, obviously that is not their *immediate* concern, well done for pointing out the obvious. But they are not stupid, they see this as well as the other things I mentioned as a sign of the general direction the world is going in. That can make anyone depressed. These aspects I listed all make for grim reading for their futures, and they typically do not see things improving. Hence, increased anxiety and depression.
Bonus point, you are all very privileged if you think rising house prices and mortgage rates and rent prices are not affecting 16yos. They typically live with their parents who have to afford all of these things. They are not stupid and can see the affect this has on their parents if they are not high earners.
You speak of influencers and how this generation are spoiled. They are not. Influencers are a loud minority. Most 16yos do not live a live of luxury and are very aware of what is happening around them as it affects their parents/guardians.
A lot of that is down to personal lifestyle choices having basic consequences. How many of these 16 year olds have gone 24 hours without social media, how many of them go for a 40 minute walk, when was the last time they just meditated for just 5 minutes, how many of them get 8 hours of sleep?
The world is stressful, not everyone has the same luxuries, inequality, climate change is scary, yada yada I know, you know, let’s just price that in and move on, but a lot of people think calling themselves mentally ill excuses their own habits as if you’re entitled to sit around all day on your phone, getting no excercise, and eating like shit and feel just as happy as the people who actually proactively work on calming their mind and being healthy.
Ill-health? We can’t say illness anymore?
Because too many people who are more than unsuitable to be parents have kids. “Parents” only want a cute baby, an accessory. They don’t think about the stages of growing up and that they have to deal with it later. They just want their kids to remain kids, not to have their own thoughts and personalities. Eventually, when the kid begins to formulate their own ideas of the world, the parents ostracize them, because it doesn’t match the parents’ ideas/ideology.
It’s absolutely disgusting and disheartening. And I was one of these teenagers. Even though I’m a young adult now, I am still depressed, struggle with anxiety and who knows what.
Edit: Forgot to add: lack of affordable/legal abortion.
Can it be largely due to overdiagnosis?
Wonder how many of these kids come from a single parent households
Switch off your phone, throw it away📱 and go for a walk.. problem solved
As with all statistics from surveys, take with a pinch of salt.
How was ‘mental ill health’ defined for the purposes of the survey? Sounds different to ‘mental illness’, itself a somewhat nebulous concept. What is a normal human, if unpleasant, experience vs an illness? How were the respondents selected and categorised? Were they self selecting? Were they self diagnosing? How was the survey circulated, what audience did it reach? Out of that audience, was their a bias in who was łikely ŧo respond? Who conducted the survey, who paid for it, are they reputable researchers and data scientists, do they have a bias, Etc, etc, etc.
Having said all that, in a society with many single child households where there is little experience of environments not supervised by adults. In a society with 24/7 news cycles and social media, where hitting negative emotional buttons has been elevated to a science. In a society so fast moving that the world can change massively inside a generation. In a society where children are spending more and more time indoors on academic tasks and staring at screens, where immense social pressure and fears are the norm, it should be no surprise that mental heath is an issue.
Empathy is already pretty low in this thread and it’s still early.
Keep expanding definition of mental ill-health and you get more “unwell” people. What a surprise.
Unpopular opinion, but I think the problem here is the definition of “mental ill-health”. 40 years ago, many of those, mental ill-health conditions were simply called life. Life is often hard and brutal. It’s only today stress and depression started to be diagnosed more and more.
Not saying, it’s a bad thing, but back in the day, when you revealed how you felt to older people around you, the response would be to “toughen up”, “life is hard, get over it”. Today you are brought to therapist and as a result you are recorded with a mental health condition. So, I don’t think this is a new phenomenon.
Holy fuck, the lack of empathy on this post is some next level shit 🤦♂️
Think theres a mix of things at play here
Social media absolutely plays a huge part. You are constantly bombarded with people who seem to be living better lives than you, acheiving more success than you or just seem happier overall. Do something stupid or screw up? It’s going up online and that shit won’t get forgotten. Add to the fact these apps are so addictive and its no wonder…
Then you got a lot of parents out there who have NO BUSINESS whatsoever in being parents… Be they narcissists, emotionally unavailable, unstable or just absolutely incomptetent and only doing it to please other relatives. What does it lead to? Traumatised kids with rotten self esteem and trust issues, thats what.
Though also, I reckon at least some of this is just because the younger generation tends to be much more open when talking about their mental health instead of just trying to suck it up like older folks (especially men). So thats a positive change I guess.
Thats called puberty…
In the generation of social media I am surprised it’s not 80%
While I don’t like to generalize, I have to say this:
I’ve noticed this in the last few years while traveling to my university campus. Many kids (both boys and girls) in public transportation such as busses/trains/metros etc. are absolutely unhinged and lack any kind of self-awareness. They yell profanities, blast their music out loud, and try to start shit out of nothing, with zero respect for other people. It’s fucking sickening. What are their parents even doing?
Definitions are important here. Periods of depression and anxiety are totally normal in all people, particularly during our teenage years. However, that’s not the same as having severe or long-lasting mental illness that requires treatment, or between chronis psychological conditions like bipolar disorder.
It’s important not to mix them up. Normal teenage mood swings are not mental disorders
Society responsible for that still have no idea what the reasons might possibly be vOv
I guess it’ll remain a mystery.
And probaly they all just fake it anyway (heavy irony warning).
I thank Meta, TikTok and Snapchat for that.
Just ban social media(except Reddit). Problem solved. 😀
Social media and the general state of the world today, the kids born after the millennium grew up in a world in which they were told one thing and experienced the complete opposite. These kids grew up being told that everyone is equal, and that you can work hard and eventually get a house and family. Instead somewhere along the way they realised that the world is actually becoming more unequal and that many people will work hard and never be able to afford property. Then throw social media into the mix, along with politicians who lie and steal.
Essentially, the young adults and kids of today have grown up in an insane world
Do these people realise that their articles and the current setting of „raising awareness“ leads to increased rate of diagnosis but also increases the amount of people who simply believe they are ill in challenging life situations?