cawacko
Well-known member
I'm guessing there are very few people who would say life is close to perfect and they have no challenges or struggles. I know for me personally, I'm very fortunate to know I have a roof over my head and don't have to worry about where my next meal will come from. Yet I often have trouble sleeping at night worrying about work and being able to afford the type of schooling I want for my daughter. Does that qualify as having mental health challenges?
I'm not trying in any way to suggest kids today don't face challenges, they do, but I think of those growing up during the time of WWI, WWII & Vietnam. The thought of being sent off to war where death is a very real possibility trumps many other issues. Today's kids are fortunate not to face that.
Climate change? Yes, it is a (global) challenge for the future but that is giving kids mental health issues and not allowing them to be happy? Racism is another problem but we still have people alive who couldn't do basic things when they were young. Kids today have a much improved world in that regard.
I have empathy for the challenges young people face (cost of housing, college etc.) yet at the same time 90% claim mental health challenges?
Nearly 90% of teens and young adults have mental health challenges, survey finds
Nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. teens and young adults say they experience mental health challenges regularly, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Harris Poll and health insurer Blue Shield of California.
Eighty-seven percent of people ages 14 to 25 say they have mental health challenges on a regular basis, the survey found. It was conducted May 31 to June 13 and included responses from 1,368 people, including 318 in California.
It’s not clear whether this marks an improvement or worsening of youth mental health compared with previous years because it’s the first year Blue Shield has done a survey that worded the question this way.
But one relevant metric for which there is a comparison point from a previous survey showed that the proportion of young Californians who rate their mental health as “good or excellent” fell from 54% in 2021 to 41% in 2023, while the proportion of those who rate their mental health as “fair or poor” rose from 42% to 59% during the same period.
This tracks with other state and national data suggesting that while Americans of all ages are increasingly struggling with depression, anxiety and other conditions, teens and young adults are struggling more acutely.
Data from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey, for instance, shows that California teens 15 to 17 and young adults 18 to 24 are more likely to experience serious psychological distress — defined as diagnosable mental health challenges that warrant treatment — than any other age group. About 40% of teens and 36% of young adults in those age groups are likely to have serious psychological distress, much higher than the 19% average in the overall population.
The stressors for Gen Z, such as the economic environment, climate change and social injustice, are not necessarily unique to their generation. But young people are facing them in a way older generations are not, said David Bond, a licensed clinical social worker and director of behavioral health for Blue Shield of California.
“There’s a higher level of anxiety about the future,” Bond said. “When we think about economic anxiety or climate change, those issues tend to have more of an impact on stress levels for younger generations because they’re going to be experiencing the outcome of those in their lifetime, whereas for older adults the impacts may not be as evident in their lifetime.”
Stressors for Gen Z, such as the economy, climate change and social injustice, are not unique to their generation, but young people face them in a way older generations aren’t. “They’re going to be experiencing the outcome of those in their lifetime,” one expert says.
Young people are also dealing with higher education and housing costs relative to wages and have constant exposure to social media. Plus, they may perceive stressors on a larger scale than older generations, who have experienced hardship like war and financial instability before and have gotten through it, Bond said.
“These issues hit Gen Z in a different way because there’s a sense of pessimism, a lack of optimism,” Bond said. “Someone in an older generation has had more opportunities to see something similar in the past and realize they’ve gotten through it. The younger someone is, the fresher a stressor seems. There’s less experience in knowing how to get through something.”
Another reason teens and young adults are reporting such high rates of mental health challenges, Bond said, is that they are more willing to shed the stigma around mental health and talk about it more openly. And perhaps hearteningly, they are seeking support: 93% of respondents use self-care to manage their mental health, 78% have talked to others about their mental health, and 71% have used self-help exercises and other resources to address their mental health, the survey found.
The most commonly reported mental health issues among survey respondents were anxiety (58%), feeling stressed (54%), lack of motivation (53%), feeling overwhelmed (49%) and feeling lonely (45%).
When asked about sociopolitical issues that concerned them the most, respondents said gun violence was their greatest concern — 69% of respondents said they were very concerned about this issue — followed by racism and social injustice (54%) and lack of affordable health care (51%).
The top personal concern that negatively impacted mental health was finding a good job: 50% of U.S. respondents and 55% of California respondents said this was their top concern.
When asked what they wish older generations understood, one 16-year-old respondent from California wrote, “How challenging school can be and that even though teens may seem to be happy and okay, we really aren’t.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/teen-adult-mental-health-18273324.php
I'm not trying in any way to suggest kids today don't face challenges, they do, but I think of those growing up during the time of WWI, WWII & Vietnam. The thought of being sent off to war where death is a very real possibility trumps many other issues. Today's kids are fortunate not to face that.
Climate change? Yes, it is a (global) challenge for the future but that is giving kids mental health issues and not allowing them to be happy? Racism is another problem but we still have people alive who couldn't do basic things when they were young. Kids today have a much improved world in that regard.
I have empathy for the challenges young people face (cost of housing, college etc.) yet at the same time 90% claim mental health challenges?
Nearly 90% of teens and young adults have mental health challenges, survey finds
Nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. teens and young adults say they experience mental health challenges regularly, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Harris Poll and health insurer Blue Shield of California.
Eighty-seven percent of people ages 14 to 25 say they have mental health challenges on a regular basis, the survey found. It was conducted May 31 to June 13 and included responses from 1,368 people, including 318 in California.
It’s not clear whether this marks an improvement or worsening of youth mental health compared with previous years because it’s the first year Blue Shield has done a survey that worded the question this way.
But one relevant metric for which there is a comparison point from a previous survey showed that the proportion of young Californians who rate their mental health as “good or excellent” fell from 54% in 2021 to 41% in 2023, while the proportion of those who rate their mental health as “fair or poor” rose from 42% to 59% during the same period.
This tracks with other state and national data suggesting that while Americans of all ages are increasingly struggling with depression, anxiety and other conditions, teens and young adults are struggling more acutely.
Data from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey, for instance, shows that California teens 15 to 17 and young adults 18 to 24 are more likely to experience serious psychological distress — defined as diagnosable mental health challenges that warrant treatment — than any other age group. About 40% of teens and 36% of young adults in those age groups are likely to have serious psychological distress, much higher than the 19% average in the overall population.
The stressors for Gen Z, such as the economic environment, climate change and social injustice, are not necessarily unique to their generation. But young people are facing them in a way older generations are not, said David Bond, a licensed clinical social worker and director of behavioral health for Blue Shield of California.
“There’s a higher level of anxiety about the future,” Bond said. “When we think about economic anxiety or climate change, those issues tend to have more of an impact on stress levels for younger generations because they’re going to be experiencing the outcome of those in their lifetime, whereas for older adults the impacts may not be as evident in their lifetime.”
Stressors for Gen Z, such as the economy, climate change and social injustice, are not unique to their generation, but young people face them in a way older generations aren’t. “They’re going to be experiencing the outcome of those in their lifetime,” one expert says.
Young people are also dealing with higher education and housing costs relative to wages and have constant exposure to social media. Plus, they may perceive stressors on a larger scale than older generations, who have experienced hardship like war and financial instability before and have gotten through it, Bond said.
“These issues hit Gen Z in a different way because there’s a sense of pessimism, a lack of optimism,” Bond said. “Someone in an older generation has had more opportunities to see something similar in the past and realize they’ve gotten through it. The younger someone is, the fresher a stressor seems. There’s less experience in knowing how to get through something.”
Another reason teens and young adults are reporting such high rates of mental health challenges, Bond said, is that they are more willing to shed the stigma around mental health and talk about it more openly. And perhaps hearteningly, they are seeking support: 93% of respondents use self-care to manage their mental health, 78% have talked to others about their mental health, and 71% have used self-help exercises and other resources to address their mental health, the survey found.
The most commonly reported mental health issues among survey respondents were anxiety (58%), feeling stressed (54%), lack of motivation (53%), feeling overwhelmed (49%) and feeling lonely (45%).
When asked about sociopolitical issues that concerned them the most, respondents said gun violence was their greatest concern — 69% of respondents said they were very concerned about this issue — followed by racism and social injustice (54%) and lack of affordable health care (51%).
The top personal concern that negatively impacted mental health was finding a good job: 50% of U.S. respondents and 55% of California respondents said this was their top concern.
When asked what they wish older generations understood, one 16-year-old respondent from California wrote, “How challenging school can be and that even though teens may seem to be happy and okay, we really aren’t.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/teen-adult-mental-health-18273324.php
