health and fitness: 'There is an urgent need to update adult thinking to catch up with the reality of teenagers’ lives'

lundi 24 août 2015

'There is an urgent need to update adult thinking to catch up with the reality of teenagers’ lives'

A huge spike in mental health concerns among young women means that almost half of young British girls aged 17 to 21 have needed mental health support but are struggling to access it

Almost half of UK girls aged 17 to 21 have needed help with their mental health, according to findings published today from the Girlguiding 2015 girls’ attitudes survey. The results suggest that mental wellbeing is a major area for concern, with worries starting from as young as seven and escalating as girls get older.

Self-harming tops a list of health concerns for girls aged 11 to 21, closely followed by smoking, mental illness, depression and eating disorders. The results suggest that these concerns have changed dramatically over the past five years. In 2010, girls’ top three health concerns were binge drinking, smoking and drug abuse.